Premiership Review - Gloucester 26 - 24 Northampton Saints

There are certain things that you need when settling down to watch a Premiership match – a TV usually helps, as does a sofa (preferably one of those L-shaped ones so you stick your feet up), a six-pack of beer and an industrial-sized portion of crisps/nuts.  After Saturdays encounter between Gloucester and Northampton though, you’d be well advised to add an emergency pair of underwear to the list of essentials.

This always stood out as the game of the weekend – two sides with genuine title ambitions, with a penchant for playing exciting, fast rugby and with proud histories, and yet two sides in vastly different moods heading into the game.  The hosts, tipped by many to topple the top-4 monopoly of Leicester, Saracens, Harlequins and Northampton this year, had suffered a car crash of a start – not showing up at home against Sale before getting thumped by Sarries with 14 men on the field for 79 minutes.  Saints, meanwhile, had strutted into Kingsholm straight off two mightily impressive victories, smashing Exeter on the opening day and then grinding out a hard-fought victory at the Stoop against Harlequins.  Boosted by high-calibre signings such as Kahn Fotuali’i, Alex Corbisiero and George North, Northampton have been looking the real deal this season.

So with 2 sides looking similar on paper, but in vastly different strains of form, the visitors came in as favourites, and they lived up to that billing by scoring with their first real attack of the match.  Luther Burrell pounced on an overthrown lineout and cannoned through the midfield to take play up to within 10 metres, and after the ball had been recycled quick hands from Stephen Myler gave Ben Foden the space to step inside the cover and scamper over for the opening try.

Gloucester, though, are always an intimidating proposition playing in front of the Shed, and they immediately came roaring back into contention, playing the fast, enterprising brand of rugby which makes them so good to watch.  With James Simpson-Daniel and Charlie Sharples both impressing off their wings, the pressure built and eventually yielded a penalty, which Freddie Burns slotted.  It could have been even better for the Cherry and White’s though as Henry Trinder – who had been superb in defence early on – missed an ‘open try’ by knocking on Burns’ smart grubber kick when the ball bounced over the tryline.  The hosts did get an advantage on the 20 minute mark, though, as Saints’ Number 8 Sam Dickinson was shown yellow for tackling Simpson-Daniel in the air.

Disappointingly for the hosts, they couldn’t make the extra man count, and with Northampton displaying scrum-dominance even when a man down, they managed to maintain enough territory to force another penalty to earn themselves a 10-3 lead.  Spurred into action by the knowledge they had let an opportunity slip, Gloucester once again came back and this time scored a try of sensational quality, as Billy Twelvetrees and Freddie Burns displayed glorious handling skills to set Rob Cook away, and the fullback gave Sharples just enough room for the winger to squeeze into the corner.  Burns missed the difficult conversion, but with 2 points in it at half time, we had a game on their hands.

And this time, it was the home side who came tearing out of the blocks early on as the game restarted.  Awarded a penalty from a scrum inside Northampton’s 22, Jimmy Cowan took a quick tap and passed to Twelvetrees, who had faded outside of Burrell to coast his way over the line.  With a 5 point lead, the pressure was on Northampton to respond – and they did it in an emphatically trademark style just two minutes later, launching a ferocious rolling maul of a lineout which saw Samu Manoa crash over for game-levelling score, which was improved on by Myler’s superb conversion.

This game was swinging to and fro at a fantastic speed, and this continued to be the case as the hosts once again retook the lead, scoring points through a Burns penalty following an offside from George Pisi, and then a superb try, finished by youngster Elliot Stooke but made by a couple of strong carries from Twelvetrees and Ben Morgan and a piece of brilliance from Simpson Daniel, who turned the Saints defence inside out to give the lock the scoring pass.  Burns, though, crucially missed the conversion – which meant that Northampton were still just 6 points behind.

And that was looking costly when, 2 minutes from time, Twelvetrees made almost his first mistake of the game, and missed touch with a deep kick.  It gave George North, almost anonymous up until this points, the chance to run, and boy did he run.  Stepping outside of Trinder, and then Jonny May, the flying Welshman beat Twelvetrees and held off two tacklers before offloading to Foden who fed Jamie Elliot via Calum Clarke, and the diminutive winger sped over underneath the posts to score what would surely be the game-sealing try.  Myler knocked over the conversion, at the visitors had themselves a one-point victory in a game that had been stuffed-full of skill and drama.

But there was one more twist to be had, as Gloucester raced to restart the game, and unfortunately, it was the referee who instigated it through a pair of mind-blowingly bad calls.  Firstly, the Cherry and White chasers were nearly all, to a man, 4 metres offside when the restart was taken, and then, after Northampton had knocked the ball on, referee Martin Fox failed to spot the ball pop out from Morgan’s feet, meaning the backrow could break off.  Instead, Saints were penalised for early disengagement and Twelvetrees, showing seriously big cajones, slammed over the kick to claim a 3 point win.

It was exhilarating stuff with the only downside that so much talk following the game would be on the quality of the refereeing, as opposed to the stunning standard of rugby on display.  But perhaps the result was a fair reflection on the game as a whole, despite scoring a try worthy of any win, Saints had been largely outplayed for the majority of the game.  Either way, both sides had shown a scintillating level of skill which, although it may have been stunning to watch, cannot have been good for fans’ underwear funds.  Still, they’ll know for next time.

What else was occurring across the Premiership at the weekend?

Sale Sharks 26 – 22 London Wasps:  Wasps remain winless but claimed their 3^rd consecutive losing bonus point as they went down to Sale in Salford on Friday night.  Danny Cipriani was the star of the show, kicking well and scoring a try along with Mark Cueto, with Wasps getting 5-pointers through Ashley Johnson, a penalty score and Josh Bassett.

Worcester Warriors 13 – 37 Harlequins:  Warriors remain bottom of the table after Quins rediscovered their mojo at Sixways.  The visitors picked up a bonus point with scores from Danny Care, Joe Marler, Rob Buchanan and Mike Brown, with the hosts earning just a solitary penalty try for their troubles.

Leicester Tigers 31 – 6 Newcastle Falcons:  A Manu-Tuilagi inspired Leicester cruised to victory at home to new-boys Newcastle as Dean Richards failed to get anything out of his return to Welford Road – aside from a warm reception from the crowd.  The hosts scored 5 tries through Jordan Crane, Graham Kitchener, Blaine Scully, Dan Bowden and Thomas Waldrom.

London Irish 23 – 29 Exeter Chiefs:  The Chiefs showed their typical fighting spirit to overturn a hefty deficit and come away with a win from the Madejski Stadium.  The hosts had grabbed tries through Nic Rouse and try-machine Marland Yarde, before the visitors fought their way back with scores from Dean Mumm and Ben White.

Saracens 31 – 17 Bath:  A first half blitz from Sarries was enough to maintain their perfect start to the season and get their 3^rd consecutive try bonus point.  The men in black scored through Dave Strettle (2), Alex Goode and Matt Stevens, before Bath stemmed the flow in the second period and grabbed a couple of 5-pointers through Semesa Rokoduguni and Dave Attwood.