They say rugby is a team
game, which is of course true. The jazzy
fly half can’t win the game with glorious drop goals if the Orcs in front aren’t
doing their bit, and likewise those intelligent, physical specimens in the pack
hate nothing more than seeing a bunch of jumped up fairies spoil all their good
work by namby-pambying around out wide.
But, if we’re all being honest, there’s always room for ‘superstars’ in
the game – players who can take any team to the next level. I can only really claim to have watched the
game properly since the 90s, but some of the names that jump out – Carter, Wilkinson,
O’Driscoll etc – were all held on a pedestal above their teammates, even if they
didn’t want to be, because they could create the extraordinary. The first superstar of the game that I can
remember, though, is a certain Mr Lomu.
And he has a (Welsh) re-incarnation playing today.
His name, of course, is
George North – and, as we have seen for Wales and for the Lions, he is box
office. But at club-level? He’s good, don’t get me wrong, but you always
get the impression that he perhaps saves his best for the biggest games; the
biggest stage. Now, I’m not saying that
the pool stages of the Champions’ Cup is the biggest stage, but when you have
the leaders of the Premiership and the leaders of the Pro12 going head to head,
you need your big game players to stand up. And, as it transpired, that’s exactly what the
gargantuan winger did.
The game started in
tit-for-tat fashion as Stephen Myler and Dan Biggar both exchanged penalties,
with the latter coming after the Ospreys fly half had darted through a gap in
an attack which left George Wilson concussed and Ben Foden lucky to stay on the
field after he cynically kicked the ball away from the wrong side of the
ruck. But Saints were starting to get
the upper hand in the set-piece, and that was giving them a great platform to
attack – they arguably should have had a score after 15 minutes after Luther
Burrell got on the outside of makeshift centre Jeff Hasler to put Foden away,
but the full back misplaced his pass to Ken Pisi when drawing the last man 20
metres out. It was an early sign that
the Osprey’s mounting injury list was starting to have an effect on their cohesion
across the park.
That near miss didn’t matter
though. Just a minute later the Northampton
pack smashed the Ospreys scrum and pulverised their breakdown, resulting in
turnover ball which was quickly shipped wide to that man North, who skidded in
for one of the easier tries of his career.
Myler’s conversion gave the hosts a 7 point lead, but it was evident
that they were not happy with just that.
After going close with a breakout following a big hit from Courtney
Lawes, Saints thought they had scored their second after just 22 minutes when
Christian day slid over in the right hand corner after a superb offload from
Tom Wood, but the TMO rightly pulled it back for an earlier knock on from Samu
Monoa that Roman Poite had somehow missed, despite it being under his generously
proportioned nose. The TMO came to the
Ospreys’ rescue once again three minutes later, harshly ruling that Foden had
thrown a marginally forward pass to the supposed try scorer, Dylan Hartley, after
North had broken down the left hand side. It was another disappointing error
from Foden but, in fairness, Hartley didn’t need to be as flat as he was.
Once again, though, it proved
to be a temporary respite. Despite some
heroic defending by the Welsh region over the next 10 minutes, the English
champions once again tore through their opponents, with Pisi returning a kick
and skipping past Hassler before offloading to North, who ploughed over from 20
metres whilst smugly ignoring the needless support on his left hand shoulder. When you can run like a gazelle with legs the
size of oak trees, support is for wimps.
Another smooth conversion from Myler handed a 17 – 3 lead to the East
Midlanders, but Myler still had time to add another penalty before half time after
Josh Matavesi was – wrongly – penalised for holding on in the tackle.
The first half had, in truth,
been utterly one sided – despite the bravery of the Ospreys defence. The hosts had been had their trademark best –
bulldozing up front and majestically fluid out wide – but they struggled to maintain
that in the second half as the Welsh region began to get some traction in terms
of field position, with Biggar and full back Dan Evans combining nicely. The territorial pressure gave Biggar the
chance to grab three points for his side from right in front of the sticks, but
the Welsh international was uncharacteristically off target, hooking his kick
to the left, before making amends with an effort from a similar spot two
minutes later. 20 – 6.
Biggar then struck the post
with another effort as Northampton began to concede penalties regularly at the
break down, but their inability to convert this pressure into points swiftly
suffocated any notion of an unlikely comeback.
And the man to bury the nail into that particular coffin was – of course
– George North, who crashed his was over the line from 5 metres out after
Saints had again marched their way up the field courtesy of their dominant
scrum. North – now a hat-trick-hero –
then saved a try himself after Biggar had glided through once again and chipped
over the top, only to see his compatriot winger win the race to the ball.
With both sides aware that
the result was no longer in doubt, the substitutes entered the fray en masse
and the game began to become increasingly disjointed. Saints, though, still needed a try bonus
point to really reflect the dominance of their days work and, although they
left it late, it was worth waiting for as North saved his best until last. With 75 minutes played, substitute lock Rynier
Bernardo made the mistake of carrying
the ball into the winger – the Lions star ripped the ball, sprinted clear,
chipped ahead, and then beat three players for speed to touch down by the
sticks. It was a wondrous effort from a
wonderful player, and the perfect way to cap a resounding 34 – 6 win for
Northampton.
North may not win the regardless-of-what-sport-you-watch-world-acclaim
that Lomu did, but when you can tear teams up the way he does, in an age where
every back seems to share the same physical stats of the legendary All Black,
you can’t help but think back to big man dismantling England in 1995. Regardless of comparisons though, he’s
Northampton’s gamebreaker – a man who can turn small differences between two
very good sides into huge margins.
Munster 14 – 3 Saracens: A
classic Thomond Park battle got the weekend underway, with Munster beating
Saracens a brutal encounter in difficult conditions. In a tight game with the scores tied at 3-3
after 50 minutes, a sin-binning to Rhys Gill for a dangerous clear out proved
to be the decisive factor, with an Ian Keatley penalty and Dave Kilcoyne try
taking place over the next 10 minutes to tip the match in favour of the men in
red.
Ulster 13 – 23 Toulon:
Up in northern island there
was another colossal battle taking place at a traditional fortress, Ravenhill,
as Ulster succumbed to the reigning champions Toulon. Despite some ferocious physicality from the
Ulstermen, tries from Bryan Habana and Delon Armitage had given the French
giants control, with the hosts only crossing through Craig Gilroy late on.
Bath 19 – 21 Toulouse:
Bath lost a nail-biter of an
encounter with Toulouse, with perhaps an ever-growing injury list being
partially accountable for a surprisingly porous defence which allowed Clerc,
Harinoroquy and Medard to all cross for tries, before Ross Batty’s late score
set up a frantic finish.
Montpellier 13 – 15 Glasgow Warriors: Glasgow
continued their impressive start to the competition – and the season in general
– with a win in France which was more convincing than the scoreline suggested. All of the visitors’ points came courtesy of
the boot of Finn Russell, with a penalty try in the last minute for the hosts
rescuing them a bonus point.
Scarlets 15 – 3 Leicester Tigers: The
Scarlets ran out victors in a peculiar encounter at Parc Y Scarlets, taking
advantage of two howlers from the visitors to run out as winners. Firstly, Miles Benjamin dropped the ball under
no pressure to allow Harry Robinson to touch down, then Aled Davies picked off
a speculative Ben Youngs pass to race away.
Leicester actually threatened all match, but couldn’t finish a Sunday roast
in a display which ultimately seems to have cost backs coach Paul Burke his
job.
Castres 16 – 21 Leinster: Castres
were undone by their own indiscipline and the boot of Ian Madigan, as the
Irishman (playing at 12) banged over all of the visitors’ points to make it two
wins from two. Castres had in fact
started the game strongly with prop Saimone Taumoepeau crashing over after just
four minutes, but they had no answer for the power and guile of the Irishmen.
Clermont Auvergne 35 – 3 Sale Sharks: Clermont
eased to victory at home against the Sharks, picking up a try bonus point in
the process – but they left it late, with two of the scores coming in the final
10 minutes. Sale competed gamely for
most of the game but scores from Nick Abendanon, Napolini Nalaga (2) and
Aurelien Rougerie gave the French giants a maximum haul.
Treviso 10 – 26 Racing Metro: Racing
were too strong for their Italian hosts, but the French giants were made to
work hard for their win, being restricted to two tries from Henry Chavancy and
Wenceslas (great name) Lauret, with Ludovico Notoglia responding for Treviso.
Wasps 16 – 23 Harlequins: Wasps
were defeated in the last ever derby at Adams parks by a physically dominant
Quins side who took full control in the second half. Joe Simpson and Charlie Matthews exchanged
tries in a tight opening 40 before the Quins pack took the game by the scruff
of the neck and earned a penalty try in the 63rd minute to take the
game away from the hosts.
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