Northampton Saints: Waller is out to make his mark in front row
Pictures by Linda Dawson
Alex Waller says he will keep doing his best to give Jim Mallinder selection headaches.
The one positive to take from Saturday’s beating at Bath was the performance of Saints’ front row.
With Brian Mujati and Soane Tonga’uiha having a rest on the bench and Dylan Hartley with the England Six Nations squad, the reserve front row stepped in and did a very good job.
Tom Mercey was hugely impressive at tighthead against wily campaigner David Flatman, and was unlucky not to get more penalties out of the ref.
The former Saracen continues to make big strides, while Kettering-born Waller was equally good on the other side against Samoan international Anthony Perenise.
For the 21-year-old it was a performance that was capped by a try with the forwards driving over for Waller to dot down.
It was a showing that bodes well for the future of the club and will have given some food for thought for Mallinder as he puts his team together to take on Wasps this weekend with an LV= Cup semi-final spot up for grabs.
Waller, though, is much more modest in pushing his claims for a starting spot.
“Whenever I come on and I try to do my best,” said Waller. “It is down to the coaches at the end of the day. I will do my best on the pitch, but I can only do so much to influence that, we will see what happens. I am only too happy to support Soane.”
Saints are always keen to stress the scrum is an eight-man job and that is part of the reason why they are so good at it.
With all those changes in the front row, the result was still the same against Bath and credit must go to forwards coach Dorian West.
You don’t ever see the Saints back row getting penalised for detaching early from a scrum, everybody has their head down.
Waller was certainly happy with the performance against Bath’s strongest eight.
“I was quite happy with the way the scrum went, the whole pack were,” said Waller. “It went well, but that is not just me or the front row it is down to the whole eight. And even when the other lads came on off the bench, it went well. It is a positive when the boys come on and we can still have the edge in the scrum.”
The big down side for Saints was conceding five tries for the second week running, though there were some tired looking legs by the end.
With the game against Hartpury College cancelled, the Wanderers have not played since December 31 and it showed for some.
“It was disappointing,” said Waller. “Nobody likes to concede tries. We looked threatening at times, but couldn’t finish, credit to Bath they did and that’s what makes the difference in the end.
“I had complete faith in everybody who played, we have a good squad, a lot of boys stood up. The pack was good, a lot of players stood out individually, but as a team we couldn’t finish it off.
“We all train together and we all perform the same roles. It can be tough coming straight in for boys that haven’t been playing a lot. But the nature of the professional game means you should be able to come in and step up.
“Bath put out a good team, we had a lot of young boys out who fought well, but Bath had the upper hand on the day.
“It is good for the younger players, it can only help playing and with experience you can get better. Hopefully the boys will have learned from the defeat and we can move on.”
After having a French referee and winning two penalty tries against Munster, the Saints scrum were frustrated by a lack of support from Sean Davey at The Rec.
“It is always frustrating,” said Waller. “But it is a very tough thing to referee, they can’t see what is going on inside the scrum.
“It was a good battle, we got the edge more than we didn’t and so that is one positive we can take away.
“The lineout performed well, Brett (Sharman) threw well and Daisy (Christian Day) led the side well.
“It is going to be a tough game this Saturday, Wasps have not had the best of form recently, but it will be a tough game and we can hopefully get the win.”
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