Northampton Saints vs Harlequins FC - Aviva Premiership Round 11

First topic message reminder :

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The Saints' power, physicality and attacking intent saw them to a memorable win in Belfast last Saturday night, but with Aviva Premiership Rugby league leaders Harlequins next on the agenda Mallinder says that there can be no let-up in how the players approach the contest.

"We enjoyed last Saturday's result, but all the chat in the dressing room was about taking the momentum into tomorrow's game against Harlequins," he said. "This has been reflected in the attitude in training this week, which has been both intense and positive.

"We all know that Harlequins will pose us plenty of challenges. They are on a good run of form at the moment in all competitions and have shown regularly that they have the temperament and ability to win on the biggest stage.

"But we know we can win the big games, too, and are determined to give our fans something to sing about on Saturday."

Tomorrow's game may be sold out, but supporters can still follow the action as it happens, whether by following the Saints' Facebook match blog, score updates on the club's Twitter feed, by listening to BBC Radio Northampton or watching Sky Sports 3.

Supporters should also note that the game will be preceded by a minute's silence for David Tait, the former Sale and England Under-20 forward who died tragically last week.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY HARLEQUINS
Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 11
Franklin's Gardens
Saturday, December 22nd, 2012
Kick off 3:15pm
15 Ben FODEN
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Tom MAY
11 Jamie ELLIOTT
10 Stephen MYLER
9 Lee DICKSON
1 Soane TONGA'UIHA
2 Mike HAYWOOD
3 Paul DORAN JONES
4 Samu MANOA
5 Courtney LAWES
6 Tom WOOD
7 Phil DOWSON (capt)
8 GJ VAN VELZE

Replacements
16 Ross MCMILLAN
17 Alex WALLER
18 Brian MUJATI
19 Mark SORENSON
20 Calum CLARK
21 Martin ROBERTS
22 Ryan LAMB
23 Dom WALDOUCK"


From the Premiershiprugby website

"Harlequins have named their team to face Northampton Saints at Franklin's Gardens tomorrow afternoon in round 11 of the Aviva Premiership (kick-off 3.15pm).

There are six changes to the starting line-up of the team which beat Zebre in the Heineken Cup. Among the backs, Ugo Monye moves to the left wing, with Tom Williams starting on the right.
In the forwards, Joe Marler and James Johnston return to start in the front row alongside Joe Gray at hooker.

Olly Kohn partners George Robson in the second row, while Maurie Fa'asavalu is named in the back-row.

Among the replacements, Dave Ward comes in for Rob Buchanan who picked up a knock during the Aviva 'A' League final victory over Saracens Storm on Monday night. Mark Lambert will look to make his 100th appearance for the club from the bench.

Harlequins Team to face Northampton Saints

15. Mike Brown
14. Tom Williams
13. Matt Hopper
12. Tom Casson
11. Ugo Monye
10. Nick Evans
9. Danny Care

1. Joe Marler
2. Joe Gray
3. James Johnston
4. Olly Kohn
5. George Robson
6. Maurie Fa'asavalu
7. Chris Robshaw
8. Nick Easter

16. Dave Ward
17. Mark Lambert
18. Will Collier
19. Charlie Matthews
20. Tom Guest
21. Karl Dickson
22. Ben Botica
23. Sam Smith"

Huge game, looking forward to it. Could cement our place at the top or kick start Saints' domestic season. Key battles here will be Brown vs Foden at FB (Foden got the better in the League last season but was outplayed in the SF), Wood and Robshaw at the breakdown, and JJ vs Tonga in the scrum. Lancaster will be keeping an eye on a lot of players, especially Courtney Lawes and Foden

yappysnap wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Are Quins kicking too much away this game? Sounds like every time Nev is mentioned he's kicking the ball long to Foden or Myler.

Given conditions kicking is for territory is pretty important, problem is they arent chasing it agressively enough and he isnt kicking well enough.

Must be pleased with the LI result PSW. Tasty little bp in the bag there and Benny Youngs managed to grab himself a yellow card.

Yeah just mentioned on the Tigers thread, this weekend should make it even tigther at the top. Theres 3 clubs who look likely to be contesting the title...and one of those will miss out on a home semi. These BPs are importnat and hard to come by in the mud. Obviously LI are rich pickings, but the weather really didnt favour a cricket score. Saracens conservative game may be winning them matches but the lack of BPs could cost them dear later in the season.

9 point gap = game over!!!

Saints look completely clueless. Quins have played the conditions really really well.

Well, Borwon was man-of-the-match, must have done something right...

Brown was ok, nothing wrong but hardly match winning!!!

I don't get the buzz with Brown, decent left boot but totally inferior to Foden and Armitage in every other way!

Thought the centre and prop were much better, Casson and Jonstone?

I don't think Saints win in Ulster papers over the fact they're a team that's gone backwards the last two years.

Going to have to disagree with you, Blues. I'd say he was superior in nearly every aspect (except Goal kicking) to Armitage and better at everything on current form to Foden. I am very biased, mind. He can score tries with either of them, joins the line and doesn't just counter, kicks better than Foden, has as good positioning and is as good under the high ball and as good at tackling, is even stronger than Foden in contact and can win turnovers by himself and always makes yards on every single run. Last season he was also excellent at making tries too

Commiserations, doctor. Best of luck against Sarries and Gloucester

Definitely Hood.

Most teams can manage one off good performances, and they're even easier when everyone has already written you off. But Saints crumbled when the expectation was on them to back up that result (much to my relief).

One of their biggest problems is that their pack just doesn't control the game anymore. From what I heard between Diggins screeching the Quins pack pretty much bullied Saints around the park at the set piece and at the breakdown for the last 30 (with a man in the bin as well).

Although the points on the table suggest the top 6 are very close its increasingly apparen that the top 3 are the ones contesting the cup this year.

CJ

A lot of the good stuff I see Brown do is either against weaker opposition or when the quins pack is dominant and that continuity game is in full flow, otherwie he looks very avergae.

And in an England shirt he looks like a clubmen when against decent opposition.

Don't get me wrong his left boot puts Foden to shame, but he's not agile enough in defence, and is all too easily stepped, and he offers little ball in hand from all the quins and England games I've seen him play (against decent opposition anyway)

IMHO a back 3 involving Brown is a conservative back 3 at int level.

The int matches he's played, only one was at fullback (well, 2 if we count 2009)! And on the wing he looked pretty good against the All Blacks. And our pack isn't renowned for domination, I gather youndidn't watch us play Toulouse last year? Can't disagree with you more, i'm happy to critice Quins and England players but I've so rarelyvseen Brown have an off game in 2 years now!

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

yappysnap wrote:

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

yappysnap wrote:Are Quins kicking too much away this game? Sounds like every time Nev is mentioned he's kicking the ball long to Foden or Myler.

Given conditions kicking is for territory is pretty important, problem is they arent chasing it agressively enough and he isnt kicking well enough.

Must be pleased with the LI result PSW. Tasty little bp in the bag there and Benny Youngs managed to grab himself a yellow card.

Yeah just mentioned on the Tigers thread, this weekend should make it even tigther at the top. Theres 3 clubs who look likely to be contesting the title...and one of those will miss out on a home semi. These BPs are importnat and hard to come by in the mud. Obviously LI are rich pickings, but the weather really didnt favour a cricket score. Saracens conservative game may be winning them matches but the lack of BPs could cost them dear later in the season.

If that style continues to see them get tough away wins and 4 points like they did against Quins, they probably won't mind missing the odd TBP. They've only got 2 less TBPs than Tigers & Quins, with home matches against most of the bottom teams and TBP candidates still to come, they beat LI 40-3 with 4 tries. LBPs obviously only become possible once you've failed in your primary objective and aren't try dependent.

thebluesmancometh wrote:CJ

A lot of the good stuff I see Brown do is either against weaker opposition or when the quins pack is dominant and that continuity game is in full flow, otherwie he looks very avergae.

And in an England shirt he looks like a clubmen when against decent opposition.

Don't get me wrong his left boot puts Foden to shame, but he's not agile enough in defence, and is all too easily stepped, and he offers little ball in hand from all the quins and England games I've seen him play (against decent opposition anyway)

IMHO a back 3 involving Brown is a conservative back 3 at int level.

I don't know how you've managed to arrive at that conclusion. Regarding what he offers ball in hand, against the All Blacks for instance, despite playing out of position on the wing, only Tuilagi made more metres and Brown had the most defenders beaten, 5. He's very adept at making good yardage, breaking tackles and staying on his feet as a focus point for his support when he is grabbed.

Browns game is different from Fodens.

Foden is more of a winger at fullback; he's very quick and looks to use his pace to get on the end of moves and burn players on the outside, but as we've seen he can be a little frail in defence and under the high ball, his kicking can also let him down, he is though a very potent strike weapon and one of Englands best finishers.

Brown is like an old school full back, monstrous boot, tenacious defender and usually rock solid under the high ball. He hasn't got the lightning pace of Foden but is strong in the tackle and rarely gets turned over even when the kick chase is very good. On attack he'll look to step the first man (Cory Jane and Dagg both got stepped in the NZ game) and then stand up in the tackle and wait for support.