Saints FanStand: Are Saints moving forward?
Calum Spires: Are we moving forward as a club? As harsh as this may sound, it would seem that in recent weeks Northampton appear to be a club creeping into reverse.
With the announcement of the departures of Roger Wilson and Chris Ashton, followed by the heavy loss in the Heineken Cup against Munster and finally the drubbing at Bath last weekend, it does appear that the Saints star is on the wane.
Granted, the Bath defeat was due to many, many first-team absentees, but even still, it is disheartening as a supporter when witnessing such heavy losses.
I realise that supporters are expected to be there for the club through thick and thin, however, it would be an undoubted boost for us fans to have some good news!
Now, not wishing to sound like a spoilt child after a lack of birthday presents, it would be nice to have an injection of positivity into the club, by the club themselves. Whether that is delivered with announcements of new signings to replace the leavers; or with a convincing and morale-boosting victory at the weekend – I’m not fussy, honest!
Positivity and belief breeds success. Whether or not that positivity is bred off the field with announcements, or whether it is created with a convincing win on Saturday, the Saints need to build up a head of steam heading back into the crucial Six Nations period of the Premiership.
So come on lads, give us something to smile about!
Paul McQuaid
Club versus country? This year’s Six Nations will re-ignite all the old arguments about loyalty, pride and passion. Only this time round it’ll be Saints supporters who will be agonising the most.
The club’s continued success and its players’ performances have been duly recognised with eight Saints players selected for the full England EPS squad. It’s a magnificent achievement for all concerned.
However, it also means Saints will be significantly weakened over the next two months, and as a Northampton supporter that’s a bittersweet pill to swallow.
Over recent years, it’s been hard to get excited about England. Dubious game plans, limited ambition and a ‘better the devil you know’ approach to selections. Nothing to get the pulse racing.
Add to that the disturbing off-the-field stories that seem to dog the England team and it’s no wonder that fans have lost their sense of connection to the national team. Stuart Lancaster could be the ‘new broom’ that England so badly needs.
He ‘talks the talk’ but can his team ‘walk the walk’? Scotland at Murrayfield on Saturday will be the sternest of tests.
Perhaps the price to pay for future England glories will be Saints’ short-term success? I hope not.
But at least Lancaster’s selection of so many Saints players, and in particular Phil Dowson and Lee Dickson, demonstrates his intent to build a team with solid foundations.
If he achieves that then I’ll have no qualms about supporting both Saints and England this season.
Jason Roberts
it’s a deeply frustrating time of year as a Saints fan, so familiar to me that it’s almost become ritualistic.
Our England players are gone, Stuart Barnes is throwing verbal grenades at us on Rugby Club, and we are sure in the knowledge that players are off elsewhere, although they will continue to suit up in a Saints uniform for the rest of the season.
It’s the last point that annoys me more than most.
The rugby transfer window is completely illogical, and has to be changed. Why should players continue to play for a club when they know that they won’t be around in six months?
They’ll either be motivated by silverware, or a sense of professional duty. But what if they have neither? Too often we’ve seen disinterested players loiter around while paying fans suffer.
Remember the Shane Drahm situation that Saints had a few years ago?
Drahm had signed for Worcester in January, and in a crucial relegation battle between Saints and Worcester he was forced to play. It is worth noting that he was excellent for Saints in that game, however, there will come a time where a conflict of interest will alter the outcome of a crucial game. This is almost a certainty, unless the transfer rules are altered.
It’s not often that I think rugby should take a leaf from the book of football, but at least their transfer rules make sense. Either lose the player in January, or lose him in the summer.
Gareth Watkins
The old adage has it that ‘forwards win matches and backs decide by how much’, but the Saints’ last two performances might call that into question.
Against both Munster and Bath, the Northampton scrum was significantly superior, but somehow they wound up losing and conceding more than 40 points in the process to teams that fared better at the breakdown and played with more attacking verve.
In some respects it’s heartening that our set-piece dominance persisted despite huge changes in personnel, as that wouldn’t always have been the case in the past, but the downside is that our defensive problems were also in evidence again and we haven’t looked like scoring many tries from open play lately.
Admittedly, it would have been asking a lot to get a win at The Rec with such an unfamiliar-looking side, and a losing bonus point would have seemed a perfectly respectable outcome beforehand – but the margin of defeat was far bigger and Bath seemed able to create big holes in the Saints defence at will, which must be a concern ahead of a difficult run of Aviva Premiership fixtures.
We must put our faith in the players and the coaching team and hope that hard work on the training pitch and in matches will see the players growing in confidence and understanding during the Six Nations period, and hopefully we’ll be rewarded with displays that show Saints are still strong in every facet of the game.
Jo Green
Wake up Jim! I just watched the Saints versus Bath match and if this is what the supporters have got to look forward to for the next eight weeks then we may as well give up and go home.
The lineouts were awful, there was no pace on the ball nor was there any protection at the breakdown.
As for the ‘defence’, well there simply was just ‘no one at home’.
Sorry Jim, but this is what happens when you use our club as an England breeding ground. I think you have to make up your mind where your loyalty lies between club and country because you simply cannot achieve both.
Uncle Keith saw that one coming as he always knew that too many English players would spell disaster.
I think we will be lucky to qualify for the Heineken Cup next season, let alone win the league.
We need some southern hemisphere back-up and we need it soon. What is the point of talking to Luke Narraway when his goal is to play for England and will be missing with the rest of the EPS squad?
Wake up Jim before it is too late!!!
If it is all right with you, we would like to win something as well, that is if we can ever maintain a full team.
Keep the Faith
PS - Aren’t Bath at the bottom of the league and struggling for a win? Not any more! Finally it would be nice for the supporters if the players could come out and thank them now and again, it would not go amiss at Franklin’s Gardens. We have not seen that for a while.
Trying to Keep the Faith.
Josh Fehnert
Having conceded 97 points in their previous two games, most Northampton fans will be waiting indignantly to draw a line under January.
The Heineken cup drubbing by Munster and a humiliating second-half capitulation to Bath do not augur well for a February with eight Saints starters away on England duty.
Munster’s victory, not the two humiliating penalty tries they conceded, will be remembered and sees the Reds advance to a home quarter-final of the Heineken Cup.
Meanwhile Bath’s strong second-half performance and the unlikely scoreline could provide the confidence that their recent languid form has been without.
What then can Saints fans take from January?
Strangely, this recent downturn in fortune has come in spite of some inspired set-piece work, fearsome scrummaging and solid kicking.
Stephen Myler in particular deserves praise for his increasingly metronomic boot, a welcome relief from the not so distant past when a heartbreaking amount of points sailed woefully wide of the uprights in tight games; a testament to Paul Grayson’s tutelage.
Coupled with a dominant scrum and the best lineout in the Premiership I would contest that although shocking, the two recent Saints losses have been incidental errors rather than fundamental problems.
What then can Saints fans look forward to in February? Most importantly Northampton’s solid Premiership defence record must be maintained.
Without some of Northampton’s notable game-changers, the team will have to seize upon their solid set-piece platform and consistent kicking to keep the scoreboard ticking over and bring tight games to the wire.
Matthew Herbert
Following last weekend’s slightly humiliating defeat to Bath, it would seem now that the club are placing all their eggs in the Premiership basket.
A good win against Wasps on Saturday is a must to retain any cup ambitions, and it seems likely that a slightly stronger team will run on to Piggy’s patch this weekend.
For most fans, it would be appreciated more because the thought of losing at Franklin’s Gardens is sickening, rather than any cup hopes we still entertain.
The side remains weakened with Six Nations call-ups taking their toll.
However, the news that Calum Clark has been released from England is great news, for the club at least. Calum remains a member of the England EPS, and at only 22 his time will undoubtedly come - if not during this Six Nations, then very soon after. But he is also a key leader of the Saints with a phenomenal work-rate, who clearly bleeds green, black and gold. He brings to mind a young Tim Rodber, and will certainly go on to have a similarly distinguished Saints and England career.
The release of Joe Simpson by England is nothing but good news for Lee Dickson, especially with Ben Youngs on rather patchy form at present.
Lee is the heartbeat of Saints’ play, and his sublime distribution skills will perfectly complement England’s new, quick, game plan.
I eagerly await both games on Saturday - with so many Saints on show for England, perhaps it is time to replace ‘Swing Low Sweet Chariot’ with a song we all know!
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