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Saints vs Scarlets - Friday 3rd Feb - Franklin Gardens
Topic Started: Feb 1 2017, 07:54 PM (419 Views)
Wibble
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So our future in this competition is not fully in our control but we need a win. We need to bounce back from lasts weeks disappointment and give ourselves some chance.

I would like to see as many 1st choice forwards as we can muster and the same backs as last week. We need to get the win first so we need to toughen up up front but we still need to answer some questions in the backs and something was working last week. One game to see which of the backs will start when the league starts back up should help.

We will probably be missing 4 of the pack to England so that gives chances to a couple of lads anyway.

We play Scarlets every year it seems.... we usually do ok but if we give them a chance they can be very tricky.
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Sarge
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And today's team announcement...

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY SCARLETS
Anglo-Welsh Cup Round 4
Franklin’s Gardens
Friday, February 3rd, 2017
Kick off 7:45pm
15 Ahsee Tuala
14 Ken Pisi
13 Nafi Tuitavake
12 Harry Mallinder
11 Ben Foden (capt)
10 Stephen Myler
9 Nic Groom
1 Ethan Waller
2 Mikey Haywood
3 Kieran Brookes
4 Michael Paterson
5 Christian Day
6 Jamie Gibson
7 Lewis Ludlam
8 Sam Dickinson

16 James Fish
17 Alex Waller
18 Paul Hill
19 David Ribbans
20 James Craig
21 Lee Dickson
22 Rory Hutchinson
23 Juan Pablo Estelles
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Wibble
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Good looking team. I can see what Jim is trying to do. Will it work? Who knows...
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big mac returns
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as strong as we can go really. trying to get a good run out before the prem games, a few of us thought this would happen.

I assume Nutley is injured and not been dropped cause of his penalty count last week.

Interesting they've gone with Ben and Ace that way around, be interesting to see if they stick with that.

not convinced with Nafi, will get to have a real view of him tmow
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chesty
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is api injured never know with saints anti imformation policy.
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Wibble
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Not a clue Chesty, your right.. we don't usually find out until they are almost ready to return.
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ElmaFudd
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Should be a good game, Always enjoy Scarlets the fans bring a good atmosphere with them. As far as the selection goes about what I'd expect to see lets see if we can get a win after two losses we need to regain some momentum.
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happyclapper
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Good to see Ludlam get a start.
Would liked to have seen Estelles continue on the wing and if they want Ben back, Ace drops out.
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Wibble
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I have never been convinced of ben on the wing, he does not get enough ball and he is not the fastest but he will tackle like a daemon. He has been more dynamic of late though and its possible that with a directive to run it more we could see some goop attacking play. I will wait and see, seems odd to leave Estelles out when he is just getting into a groove.

Still, we are playing against a team we have quite the history against. We need to put in a good effort and get the train back on the tracks.
Well that was mostly very good. Had a lot of fun and great atmosphere.

There were 10 very wet mins that were a mess all round but otherwise all good.

Foden was superb.
Edited by Wibble, Feb 3 2017, 10:36 PM.
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ElmaFudd
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Really enjoyed that. 1st half was pretty competitive 2nd not so much so. Good to see the lads throwing the ball about and having a bit of fun must be good for confidence going into next week. Ben looked more comfortable on the wing than he does at 15. He popped up all over the park a bit like a certain Mr Ashton when he was with us.
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flanker
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Atrocious conditions. Job done but credit to the young inexperienced Scarlets team who must be very pleased with that performance. Some good rugby but Saints coaches will be very worried after that. Malinder had an excellent game and showed what a gifted player he is, although his tackling needs to improve. . Good quick ball from Groom. Myler mainly played well.

However for much of the game they held us in the scrum. When the replacement front row came on they were pushing us back and West was shaking his head. I don't rate Ahsee and he made several mistakes. Paterson played well. Ludlum didn't impress but he needs more games. We'll get soundly beaten by good Premier teams playing like that and won't be able to rely on scoring at will from the line out.
Edited by flanker, Feb 4 2017, 12:41 PM.
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chesty
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Enjoyed the game up to a point,they were poor then on tv said only 7 of them had played first team before and none more than a couple of times.Perhaps we weren't that good, like mallander but never man of the match,tackle practice needed youth no excuse.
Still if we get confidence from it not a complete waste, good practice run out.
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ElmaFudd
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Exactly Chesty can't read anything into the result or performance but hopefully it will build some confidence. Next week will be a different type of match and much tougher.
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claygavin
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Foden was onfire!! Set up a try from quick thinking (playing scrumhalf:)

No idea how mallinder got MOM. He missed several tackles and flew out the line on his own. Bath will attack his out side shoulder. Hope Pisi's fit because banahan will have a field day.

Foden found his place on the wing. Just need the bristol FB
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flanker
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Foden did play well but I thought he tried too many impossible offloads. As captain too, I think they needed to slow it down, wait for the opportunity and not throw it around unnecessarily. I didn't see Foden beating many players on his runs?
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big mac returns
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Arry was outstanding for us in attack but as stated far too week in defence, he gets his positioning wrong and gets caught on his inside.

Nafi is also awful in defence. I'm not sure we can win too many with that centre pairing, I expect Luther to start at 13 next week.

Foden was in top form, good to see, couple of times he tried to do too much but I thought he was excellent.

Dicko still delivers quicker ball I think.
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flanker
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Very good refereeing again too by the way, including the female touch judge.
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happyclapper
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It's all been said really. Worrying scrum performance. Foden played well. Harry was good in attack but woeful in defence; he was at fault for both their tries. Ludlam was absent for most of the game.

MotM was Claire Daniels. Showed the men how to be an excellent touch judge.
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chesty
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Bit harsh on Nafi,would like to see him when he doesn't have to cover inside centre defence,watched game twice a couple of tackles he missed weren't his tackles,will luther improve it.
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Sarge
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The scrum performance would probably have been a lot better if the officials had stopped the Scarlets No.3 from binding on the arm every time.
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