Scarlets v Northampton Saint, Parc Y Scarlets, 14.01.12 ko 1.30pm

First topic message reminder :

Righty, no team announcements as of yet, will edit them in from 12noon onwards but thought it best to get a thread started!

What do people think about this one?

Scarlets coming into it off the back of a 3 match winning streak, even if they have been playing uninspiring rugby. The way we've been playing hasn't been great, but we've been getting the wins. Confidence should be pretty high.

Slight worries in the camp this week with injuries to Gareth Davies, Rhodri Williams, Liam Williams and Sean Lamont all being monitored, with the big Scottish winger being the main concern.

Northampton Saints come into this match after showing some brilliant form, including a very good win over Harlequins, with full back Ben Foden in particular, playing very well.

Saints as usual should have the better of it in the pack, but will they be able to break down the big, solid Scarlets backline? Having Foden back should be a huge boost to them, as Pisi struggled massively in the first match between these two sides.

Personally I am very wary of Saints at the moment. They are playing some very good rugby (as highlighted in their 2nd half performance against Castres). Scarlets are going to have to be in top, top form if they even want to compete. Anything resembling our performance against Glasgow last week, will result in a loss for us.

I'm hoping the Scarlets make the step up, if we do, I don't think we'll lose at home. Huge ask though. I'd have Saints down as favourites for this one.

Scarlets team against Northampton Saints, 14th January 2012, kick off 1.30pm at Parc y Scarlets: 15 Liam Williams, 14 George North, 13 Scott Williams, 12 Jon Davies, 11 Viliame Iongi, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Gareth Davies, 1 Iestyn Thomas, 2 Matthew Rees (capt), 3 Deacon Manu, 4 Lou Reed, 5 Dominic Day, 6 Aaron Shingler, 7 Rob McCusker, 8 Ben Morgan.

Replacements: 16 Ken Owens, 17 Phil John, 18 Rhodri Jones, 19 Josh Turnbull, 20 Johnathan Edwards, 21 Rhodri Williams, 22 Stephen Jones, 23 Gareth Maule.

Northampton Team: 15 Ben FODEN 14 Chris ASHTON 13 George PISI 12 Tom MAY 11 Vasily ARTEMYEV 10 Stephen MYLER 9 Martin ROBERTS 1 Soane TONGA’UIHA 2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt) 3 Brian MUJATI 4 Samu MANOA 5 Mark SORENSON 6 Calum CLARK 7 Phil DOWSON 8 Roger WILSON

Replacements 16 Mike HAYWOOD 17 Alex WALLER 18 Paul DORAN JONES 19 Christian DAY 20 Ben NUTLEY 21 Lee DICKSON 22 Ryan LAMB 23 Scott ARMSTRONG

Scarlets walking round every scrum! Going way to fast to be legal!

that's going to be a close call!

God damn it stream is down.

i think thats a try, downward pressure.

any streams ?

Try for tiny. Conversion too. 14-13 now

Artemyev is looking better in contact than he was at the beginning of the season.

Pen to saints. 14-16

90% kicking success for Myler - I didn't realise that!

Shocking call by Rolland, well linesman actually. Never a penalty. Never in at the side. 17-16 now.

http://coolsport.tv/stream4.html for those who were asking

Coltnet wrote:Shocking call by Rolland, well linesman actually. Never a penalty. Never in at the side. 17-16 now.

Influenced by the crowd I suspect.

Myler pen. 17-19.

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:

Coltnet wrote:Shocking call by Rolland, well linesman actually. Never a penalty. Never in at the side. 17-16 now.

Influenced by the crowd I suspect.

I think so. Rolland didn't give it and he was closer. Can he not over rule a linesman? (who was looking from the wrong angle possibly).

surely a card now!

Come on, that's got to be a yellow

Thats 3 cynical elements from Shingler. Why no card???

17-22 Saints

Saints have been a completely different animal this half

Now that was yellow card! Rolland has lost the plot.
'I've already spoken to you' yes about 5 times.

So why give May a yellow after 4 mins

surely that was sealing off!

nathan wrote:surely that was sealing off!

If it was done by the Saints then yes. Scarlets then no!

took awhile for the ref to speak to Ashton and Shingler - can't believe it's just a warning

Smirnoffpriest wrote:took awhile for the ref to speak to Ashton and Shingler - can't believe it's just a warning

Unfortunately I can!

Ironically, Saints has been done for wheeling the scrum (which they did), but saints got naff all when Scarlets did it!

Is S Jones worse than useless, he costing the Scarlets

brilliant defence by Saints!

Was harder not to score then surely, 5-2 overlap FFS.

Chance wasted by the Scarlets.

The ball had to go by Davies really poor play with white line fever.

glamorganalun wrote:Is S Jones worse than useless, he costing the Scarlets

My god you don't have hate Jones don't you

Nail biting stuff.

MOM Foden!

Try for Foden. Scarlets should have taken their chances. Game over. No LBP for Scarlets

Oops, how the hell didn't they score before then. How many chances shocking finishing.

dead cert for the 15 slot for england

try foden!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

interception for Foden, and that's the end for Scarlets

Foden!!!!!

Great defence Saints and a good win

Huge difference with Foden starting today as opposed to a centre covering at FB. Scarlets won it on the back of their kicking game last time and Foden gave them nothing to profit from today.

17-29. Saints. Good win. Poor game to be fair.

Game over well done Saints

Might not have been a classic game, but some excellent last-gasp defending by both sides.

On todays performance neither side deserve to progress any further

Cracking game as a neutral and obviously wanted a Welsh but with a 23-3 second half scoreline the Scarlets can't blame anyone but themselves.

Ideal opportunity in last 10 minutes but greed and poor finishing coupled with great Saints defence meant they are out.

Cymroglan wrote:On todays performance neither side deserve to progress any further

True enough. Saints have improved as the group has progressed (but left it too late) and Scarlets have gone backwards.

nathan wrote:dead cert for the 15 slot for england

Agree. Fantastic game for him. Really safe, no mistakes and a try!

We threw it away a bit at the end. I can't see how we failed to score in that last few phases.

Well done Saints, took your chances well, stopped the Scarlets playing their style of game and Foden was superb.

Cymroglan wrote:On todays performance neither side deserve to progress any further

Cymro,

And neither will, even if the Saints get a 5pt haul against Munster next week that will only put them on 17pts and not enough I doubt to go through as runner up.

SafeAsMilk wrote:

Cymroglan wrote:On todays performance neither side deserve to progress any further

True enough. Saints have improved as the group has progressed (but left it too late) and Scarlets have gone backwards.

Is it still mathmatically possible if Munster get nothing at Castres and Saints get a TBP next week? Massive long shot though! Highly unlikey!