Northampton Saints vs Glasgow Warriors Saturday 13th October 12.45 k.o.

First topic message reminder :

Glasgow have announced their team and an injury update for Duncan Weir who will now be out for the next 6 weeks as his knee injury sustained in the warm up vs Connacht has failed to settle

GLASGOW WARRIORS TEAM TO PLAY NORTHAMPTON SAINTS IN HEINEKEN CUP POOL 4 AT FRANKLIN’S GARDENS ON SUNDAY 14 OCTOBER (KICK-OFF 12.45PM, LIVE ON SKY SPORTS 1)

15 Stuart Hogg
14 Tommy Seymour
13 Alex Dunbar
12 Peter Horne
11 Sean Lamont
10 Ruaridh Jackson
9 Henry Pyrgos

1 Ryan Grant
2 Dougie Hall
3 Mike Cusack
4 Tim Swinson
5 Al Kellock (CAPTAIN)
6 Josh Strauss
7 John Barclay
8 Ryan Wilson

SUBSTITUTES
16 Finlay Gillies
17 Ofa Fainga'anuku
18 Gordon Reid
19 Tom Ryder
20 Chris Fusaro
21 James Eddie
22 Niko Matawalu
23 Peter Murchie

Not considered for selection due to injury: Chris Cusiter (shoulder), Rob Harley (knee), Ed Kalman (back), Rory Lamont (leg), Moray Low (knee), Pat MacArthur (foot), Angus Macdonald (neck), Graeme Morrison (knee), DTH van der Merwe (hamstring), Jon Welsh (shoulder), Duncan Weir (knee).

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY GLASGOW Heineken Cup Round 1 Franklin's Gardens Sunday, October 14th, 2012 Kick off 12:45pm
15 James WILSON
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Dom WALDOUCK
11 Vasily ARTEMYEV
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Lee DICKSON

1 Soane TONGA'UIHA
2 Dylan HARTLEY (capt)
3 Brian MUJATI
4 Samu MANOA
5 Courtney LAWES
6 Phil DOWSON
7 Tom WOOD
8 Rhys OAKLEY

Replacements
16 Mike HAYWOOD
17 Alex WALLER
18 Paul DORAN JONES
19 Mark SORENSON
20 GJ VAN VELZE
21 Martin ROBERTS
22 Ryan LAMB
23 Tom MAY

Saints should go for George Ford. Needs game time badly and would fit in nicely I reckon.

Sounds like Glasgow have been dominated this half.
Such a shame that Jackson had to go off, sounded like he was doing very well.

Lamb cleverly takes advantage of Lamont being injured and kicks a perfect one to the corner.

Try from this scrum for Saints and its gonna be game over.

oh dear..

Things going from bad to worse, hooker Finlay Gillies replaces Sean Lamont. Out of backs. Going from bad to worse for Glasgow

It'll be very unfair on Glasgow if they leave franklin's gardens with 0 points...

backwards!?!? how was that backwards ref?

Good use of TMO. ,Hartley knocks on.

4th try for Saints, game over.

Artemyev is in for the fourth. Well worked by Saints from an attacking lineout.

Wow - great try Saints.

Quite a, er, 'flat' final pass but a great looking score.

EnglishReign wrote:Saints should go for George Ford. Needs game time badly and would fit in nicely I reckon.

they can keep there mits of him, he's staying at Leicester! He will get game time!!

Saints should go for George Ford. Needs game time badly and would fit in nicely I reckon.

He played 80 mins last Friday in his third appearance of the season. He's on the bench today. Mallinder signed George's older brother and left him to rot in the A team for two years. Why would he go to Saints?

Come one Glasgow!! 9 mins to get something from this game

And Lamb's well taken touchline conversion takes the Saints 9 clear with eight minutes to go.

George Carlin wrote:Wow - great try Saints.

Quite a, er, 'flat' final pass but a great looking score.

It was the, er, straight throw from the lineout that did it for me.

Pot Hale wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Wow - great try Saints.

Quite a, er, 'flat' final pass but a great looking score.

It was the, er, straight throw from the lineout that did it for me.

Yeah that was about as straight as Graham Norton

bsando wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Wow - great try Saints.

Quite a, er, 'flat' final pass but a great looking score.

It was the, er, straight throw from the lineout that did it for me.

Yeah that was about as straight as Graham Norton

Fair's fair lads - this is Poite we're talking about.

Like complaining that 101 Dalmations has got loads of dogs in it.

George Carlin wrote:

bsando wrote:

Pot Hale wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Wow - great try Saints.

Quite a, er, 'flat' final pass but a great looking score.

It was the, er, straight throw from the lineout that did it for me.

Yeah that was about as straight as Graham Norton

Fair's fair lads - this is Poite we're talking about.

Like complaining that 101 Dalmations has got loads of dogs in it.

Haha yeah I suppose, just frustrating. Been a great game regardless of result, just a shame Jackson went off and Glasgow couldn't make anything happen in 2nd half.

Final score 24-15 Saints. Very good comeback by the home side

FT - Saints by 9 - not a bad game.

Very tough on Glasgow to come away with nothing - they contributed a lot to the game. They lost it just before half time by letting Saints scoot in right before the whistle and although they defended very well in the 2nd, Saints really dominated territory.

With a bit of luck, Glasgow might have had their LBP. Injuries to 6 first XV starters really hurt us, although the second string that stood in were very good, I thought.

Yeah well done saints! Those try's before half time were crucial and really took the life out of Glasgow. Or you could argue Saints came to life and it was too much for Glasgow to handle. All in all a valiant effort by Glasgow though.

Hmm... bugger.

Very well played, Saints - George Pisi and Tonga'uiha are awesome players. Paul Diggin is not.

Fair's fair lads - this is Poite we're talking about.

Like complaining that 101 Dalmations has got loads of dogs in it.

To be fair he did also keep his cards in his pocket when Glasgow killed the ball and conceded several penalties at the start of the second half. The Glasgow 1 was very lucky not to go after conceding three in a row, two in the same piece of play.

Saints were disappointing today, shoddy defence from the backs, very lacklustre 10 play and kicking, and the backrow failed to make an impression, the locks being more impressive in what you would expect from 6-8 (Wood is clearly still not back up to speed yet and Oakley although OK is definitely more of a squad man, they need to reintegrate van Velze now his ban is over).

That said, they'll most definitely be happy with the bonus point win and could have had a few more tries (the denied Pisi try might well have been awarded by a different official or given if Poite's question had been different). If they play like that against Ulster they'll come up second best though. Like everyone else, I don't see them doing a job on the European stage until they sort out their issues at FH, and a couple more quality options in the backrow and on the wing

So that's 4 wins for the AP and 3 wins for the T14 teams so far

Sale
Northampton
Saracens
Harlequins
Racing Metro
Clermont
Toulon/Montpellier

For the Pro 12 4 wins
Ospreys
Ulster
Leinster
Connacht

Franglos 8-4 Itacelts after Round 1

Pool Leaders after Round 1
1. Saracens
2. Ospreys (so far)
3. Harlequins
4. Ulster
5. Clermont
6. Sale (so far)

Didn't know Saints got the 4 tries. That's a good win. Make the game against Ulster more exciting.

Frustrating for Glasgow, they would probably have won that game with last year defence, that's where Morrison is badly missed (and Mercer for that matter).

Cusack must be one of the best scrummaging tighthead in the world, really made Tongauiha looks average.

Ridiculous decision to only pick two Backs amongst the replacements, we may have gone on and lost the game but not having proper Ten cover was always going to cost us in one game and it did today.

Injuries are now getting beyond a joke. Entire Front row out, first choice half backs out. DTH and R Lamont both missing and losing 3 more international backs during the game!

Injuries cost us at the very least a LBP chaps. I am gutted at that. To have a SH and forward playing 11 and 14 really does not cut it at this level. Anyway great effort from a scratch team and then another even more scratch 2nd half team. Jacko is back with a vengeance. Dunbar and Horne superb. Get them capped and do not go near any of those Edinburgh diddies.

Talking of which saw the Grand BBE in the stand looking ...well tittish as usual .. probably wondering htf do i put in the Embra cowards above these guys v the ABs ?

Sorry but I find above comments are to positive?

Yes we played well for 30 mins but unfortunately there are 80 mins to be played, 'Jacko back with a vengeance'??

There were good performances, however, we were far from winning this game they have some very good players when on song.

Just got to dust our self's down and work even harder.

Decision to have 2 backs on the bench horribly backfired, and the pre-determined sub of strauss looked ridiculous.

The saints try at the end of the first half was the killer for me, defence switched off. Saints deserved winners, the pick and drives through the middle in the second half very powerful and effective. Had myler not been dreadful, they would have put glasgow to bed sooner.

Still, there's only one professional rugby team in scotland at the moment.

FES I hope your words don't come back to bite us as you said if someone had there boot's laced properly then we could have had more problems.

I just hope we can get back sooner the guy's out injured against these sort of teams we need maximum availability & flexability.

??!!??

A valiant effort from the warriors, but I thought the turning point came at 39 mins when the Warriors pack pushed them off their own ball and started driving the scrum back. Up pops the front rows and the ref awards a penalty to Saints! Why? We could have gone in a further 3 points ahead but instead they score from the resulting line out and go in on a real high. From a Glasgow point of view a ridiculous decision. However, nothing changes- we still need to win 3 home games and look to nick an away win. Based on the first 30 mins why not?

jimbopip wrote:A valiant effort from the warriors, but I thought the turning point came at 39 mins when the Warriors pack pushed them off their own ball and started driving the scrum back. Up pops the front rows and the ref awards a penalty to Saints! Why? We could have gone in a further 3 points ahead but instead they score from the resulting line out and go in on a real high. From a Glasgow point of view a ridiculous decision. However, nothing changes- we still need to win 3 home games and look to nick an away win. Based on the first 30 mins why not?

I remember it perfectly, i thought it wasn't going to affect the game as the clock was almost at 40', ultimately it turned out to be the key moment of the game, instead of 18-5 it was 15-12.

I agree that was va key point in the game, and I disagree with that particular decision from poite, but glasgow were second best in the 2nd half by some distance, and that was due to two things: injuries and the selection of only 2 backs on the bench, and the better performance from the saints pack in the second half, particularly the increased use of the pick and drive in the second half.

Glasgow should take heart though, despite crippling injuries, managed to give saints a great game at the garden. Still in it if they can win the next game.

Some good summaries above. In short, a bad selection decision and bad luck probably cost us a LBP. I'm not so down about our defensive performance - I thought that the line was very strong in the second half given how much pressure we soaked up.

Had no idea that Strauss' substitution was pre-planned. That is an absolutely ridiculous practice and one straight from Andy Robinson's 'Coaching Rugby For Dummies'.

Would like to hear more from how Saints fans felt it went and whether the Glasgow performance surprised them.

The other key, key point is that it seems Robinson now has a genuine alternative test pairing to Scott and De Lukewarm in Dunbar and Horne. Will Robinson realise this and give them a chance? He really has to given each side's position in the league and cup tables.

From Kevin Ferrie in the Herald:

"Glasgow's cause did not appear to be helped by having only two backs among their eight replacements for a game in which full-back Stuart Hogg limped off early, playmaker Ruaridh Jackson had to be replaced at half-time and the vastly experienced and influential Sean Lamont also went off injured.

However, Gregor Townsend, Glasgow's head coach, dismissed that as having been a factor. "When you go into a game you can't predict whether there are going to be injuries or not. We actually defended pretty well, or better when Chris Fusaro went into the centre," he said."



Worries me more than anything, this and smacks of his famous quote as Scotland attack coach that scoring tries is not necessary.

No problem to save face in front of the press, but I hope to sh!t if he actually means this that someone sits Toonie down and explains that when gambles don't pay off, it's his job to accept responsibility.

To honestly suggest that placing an openside in midfield is a defensively astute tactic and beneficial for the team in any respect is absolutely risible. It's Bergamasco-tastic.

George Carlin wrote:Some good summaries above. In short, a bad selection decision and bad luck probably cost us a LBP. I'm not so down about our defensive performance - I thought that the line was very strong in the second half given how much pressure we soaked up.

Had no idea that Strauss' substitution was pre-planned. That is an absolutely ridiculous practice and one straight from Andy Robinson's 'Coaching Rugby For Dummies'.

Would like to hear more from how Saints fans felt it went and whether the Glasgow performance surprised them.

The other key, key point is that it seems Robinson now has a genuine alternative test pairing to Scott and De Lukewarm in Dunbar and Horne. Will Robinson realise this and give them a chance? He really has to given each side's position in the league and cup tables.

Totally agree about the Strauss substitution. Looked to me like it was pre-planned and made to justify the extra back row on the bench, when he was not really needed.

George Carlin wrote:From Kevin Ferrie in the Herald:

"Glasgow's cause did not appear to be helped by having only two backs among their eight replacements for a game in which full-back Stuart Hogg limped off early, playmaker Ruaridh Jackson had to be replaced at half-time and the vastly experienced and influential Sean Lamont also went off injured.

However, Gregor Townsend, Glasgow's head coach, dismissed that as having been a factor. "When you go into a game you can't predict whether there are going to be injuries or not. We actually defended pretty well, or better when Chris Fusaro went into the centre," he said."



Worries me more than anything, this and smacks of his famous quote as Scotland attack coach that scoring tries is not necessary.

No problem to save face in front of the press, but I hope to sh!t if he actually means this that someone sits Toonie down and explains that when gambles don't pay off, it's his job to accept responsibility.

To honestly suggest that placing an openside in midfield is a defensively astute tactic and beneficial for the team in any respect is absolutely risible. It's Bergamasco-tastic.

I don't think he was suggesting it as a future tactic, more that in the heat of the moment Fusaro stepped up and didn't do too bad a job. Statistically speaking the bald messiah, and without having seen the game back, might be correct. Pisi's second try was the result of a midfield defensive mix up by Horne and Dunbar.

Actually Morrison at 10, with Fusaro at 12 has a nice ring to it....

George Carlin wrote:Had no idea that Strauss' substitution was pre-planned. That is an absolutely ridiculous practice and one straight from Andy Robinson's 'Coaching Rugby For Dummies'.

Strauss is a player you get 50 to 60 minutes out of then he's spent. If you watched his games during Super15 you'd see he'd play flat out for 50-60 minutes then get pulled. It'll take time to get him to perform for 80 but it might take away from his overall performance.

Sounds like Glasgow really suffered after Jacko went off. Shame

Saints looking pretty powerful in the forwards. Really good to see that aggression back, they missed it last season. Hartley looking like a completely different player compared to last season.

Glasgow really started well and the scoreline was relatively close.

But for me as a Saints fan, this team has still not played a full 80 minutes in any match this season. They are doing well for a team which plays for 50-60 minutes and sleeps through the rest. But this will come back to haunt them in both the Premiership and the Heineken Cup. This is very frustrating and should be enough to make a coach lose his hair.........

cp10 wrote:

George Carlin wrote:Had no idea that Strauss' substitution was pre-planned. That is an absolutely ridiculous practice and one straight from Andy Robinson's 'Coaching Rugby For Dummies'.

Strauss is a player you get 50 to 60 minutes out of then he's spent. If you watched his games during Super15 you'd see he'd play flat out for 50-60 minutes then get pulled. It'll take time to get him to perform for 80 but it might take away from his overall performance.

I do take this point and I did watch him in SA from time to time. However, whilst there's no point keeping a player who's out on his feet, Heiney is not as fast as S15 (Strauss himself has said so in interviews) and so each player needs to be judged on a game by game basis rather than (as Robinson and possibly Toonie is doing) being substituted regardless of what they happen to be contributing at the time.

Strauss was looking busy right up until the time he was hauled off.

George Carlin wrote:Some good summaries above. In short, a bad selection decision and bad luck probably cost us a LBP. I'm not so down about our defensive performance - I thought that the line was very strong in the second half given how much pressure we soaked up.

Had no idea that Strauss' substitution was pre-planned. That is an absolutely ridiculous practice and one straight from Andy Robinson's 'Coaching Rugby For Dummies'.

Would like to hear more from how Saints fans felt it went and whether the Glasgow performance surprised them.

The other key, key point is that it seems Robinson now has a genuine alternative test pairing to Scott and De Lukewarm in Dunbar and Horne. Will Robinson realise this and give them a chance? He really has to given each side's position in the league and cup tables.

You've got that all wrong, it's 'Coaching Rugby by Dummies'.

Strauss wasn't showing any signs of fatigue so why not keep him in there, unless he had one eye on the Ulster game, a 5 day turnaround isn't much.

I still believe Dunbar is a far better 12 than 13, but he's working well with Horne. He's a bit slow for a 13 but he can't be much slower than De Luca so it's an option. Certainly with Ansbro out. I don't think we'll see Horne in Scotland colours quite yet. I do like the fact that he's able to kick, and being left footed is a great advantage.

Anyone hear/see Big Al claim Hartley and offer to rip him a new one ? Could be some in the return !

BTW UlstermaninGlasgow where is the post for Friday's match ? You are the only appropriate person to post that up here. Only a few hundred tickets left and they have put up the East stand too - could be a 10000. Great tribute to Ulster and how they are going in league and cup