Bedford Blues 8 vs. 32 NORTHAMPTON SAINTS

Saturday, 23^rd February, 2008 - 3PM

Goldington Road

Cool Saints give Bedford the Cold Shoulder.

Saints rarely needed to get out of second gear today as the Blues desperately struggled to make any decisions, let alone the right ones...

A loud and vociferous local crowd made for an enjoyable spectacle and I was pleased to see the sprit of the local derby embraced by all. This was mainly exemplified in distain for the officials. But still credit is due to Bedford, as the final score did not genuinely reflect how close and hard fought the game was for long parts of the afternoon.

Saints seemed to do just enough for the most part, as it has also been the case when the two side have met earlier this season. In comparison to last seasons efforts however this is a true step forward. Composure and trust, faith in the system employed by the coaches is prominent. Players trust themselves and each other. The confidence soars through the side and when the time is right, blitzkrieg raids into the oppositions 22 often reap benefits not only on the scoreboard but it also slowly but surely eats away any faith or confidence that opponents might of garnered.

So to the game...

I suppose I should warn you that the lineout did play a large part of the game. So there were quite a few to discuss. From the off Saints were smart in badgering the ref to encourage an early advantage. A little more jumping and catching and a little less standing around bum scratching was needed from the blues, but bum picking can be more addictive than the other sort of crack. I should know, I was wearing brand new Ben Sherman Under crackers yesterday. They cost me £10 and I reckon I had a Fiver stuck up there... (too much information - Ed.)

Again things like this we simply didn't do last season. Promotion of other teams weaknesses? No, not the done thing. An early free kick left the Blues a little dumbfounded and gave Johnny Howard a nice early chance to set his beefcake ball carriers to work. Everyone likes an early touch of the ball and Mark Easter duly obliged.

Play moved on and a nice opportunity arose for Los Spencer to try a cheeky chip over the heads of the Blues cover defence.  But with danger approaching fast from the frequently hungry for work Jon Clarke, the excellent Lee Dickson made a superb sweep of the ball and cleared to the safety of touch, no, Brucey..

There was an awful lot of this going on yesterday from Bedford, they simply could not put the ball out of danger and take a little sting out of the game. It of course played right into the hands of Brucey...

Bruce with plenty of time pinned back the Blues with an astute kick and encouraged his team mates to pile on the pressure.  The chirpiness from the Saints continued at the ensuing lineout as once more Bedford composure was put to the test just much as the Ref's patience.  Fun and games continued throughout the opening 20 minutes as the ball spent plenty of time in the home sides half of the pitch but a lack of luck and composure from either side did little to help them gain the upper hand where it really counted, on the scoreboard.

Flashes of skill mixed with poor application of good ideas as Bruce attempted an audacious cross-field kick that went badly awry but not before a splendid piece of skill almost put Chris Ashton in for a try...

Ashton was unfortunate not to score as he capitalized on a strange mistake from the Blues botching simple clearances. Saints found space and time on the right hand side of the field and as Ashton took the smart pass from his skipper he made the instinctive move to turn his winger with a delicate grubber into the Bedford's in goal area. The Blues were fortunate to have cover coming across and Ashton, finding himself chasing the ball with former Saints Patson and Pritchard, was a little overzealous in his attempt to score.

Some good play from a bullocking Foxy moments later led to a smart break from the King but a turnover from the ensuing breakdown once more gave the Blues the chance to break, yet the application of the ideas in Ben Patson's mind could not marry up with his boot and while Mark Easter superbly took an ordinary and but cumbersome up and under in heavy traffic it epitomised Bedford to a tee, all the hard work you could ask for but with all the street-smarts of Jacqui Smith ordering a kebab.

While the scoreboard remained promoting two big Easter eggs it did give the Saints an eye on the prize and something of a key to the door. But as Bruce tried moments later to find Neil Starling 45 yards away on the left hand side of the pitch he very nearly let the Blues steal away all the impetus as another former Saint Craig Moir secured the ball and put the willies right up the Saints before Johnny Howard and James Downey were able to

Save the day and help their team-mates build again as Pritchard hack ahead found touch. Though this time from well inside their own half.

Good idea from Bruce but were Moir to have opened the score you can be sure that the skipper would have been as popular as cheese and onion flavoured condoms with his colleagues.

There was a turn in fortunes from here on in as Jimmies found they were starting to get all the ball, all of the decisions, all of the territory and very soon all of the points.

Matt Allen found himself penalized for a deliberate knock on, which to be honest looked like a very unfortunate interception attempt to me. Carlos found touch with a delightful end over end punt deep into Bedford's 22.  A smart lineout offered Los the ball he thrives on and was able to find James Downey scything through a gap as wide as M.C. Hammers parachute pants. Downey passed on to Clarkey who had no trouble putting Bruce in for what looked the most pedestrian of tries.

Bruce couldn't make as light work of the conversion unfortunately but a deserved lead of 5 points after 25 minutes.

It wasn't long before Chris Ashton scored as he had threatened to do so earlier as Clarkey and Bruce combined to made good use of turnover ball and a lack of concentration from the Blues midfield. A comfortable 12-point lead as Bruce converted may as well have been 30 points as Bedford were full of huff and puff but were struggling to threaten the comfortable Saints defence. It would take something a little special to not only stretch the Saints but to ask them to move up through the gears.

That bit of inspiration arrived just before half time as Bedford's charges had steadily kept their noses to the grindstone blindside flanker Mo Botha was able to unleash Jimmy Hinkins with a delightful mix of power and finesse. Lurking on wing Botha was able to take the ball at pace and batter through a non-existent hole and offload around the shoulders of Ashton to Hinkins to scrape over the line.

A well deserved try from the home side but they failed to capitalise as another great chance came the way of Jon Phillips almost right after the half time oranges. A rampaging run from European cup winner Allen led to Dyl Hartley to being binned for not rolling away. The resulting penalty however could find its way through the middle of the sticks but the chance to steal away the momentum and the lead came from some physical Blues play after the 22 drop out.

A ball fired wide on the edge of the 22 was meant to find JP, the former Saints hard man with the try line at his mercy, but if any of you have followed JP's career you knew, just knew that the ball would slip through his mitts like a greased pig.  I'm reliable informed the air was bluer that poor old JP's shirt.

And once more the momentum swung Saints way.  A poor kick from Hinkins suggested that Bedford had run out ideas, Spencer's kick and run return put the blues firmly on the back foot and as they turned to retrieve the ball panic stations were being manned all over the pitch, in the hospitality tent, the portaloos and I even saw the stadium manager pick up his mobile phone, dial 9-9 and hold on to see if the final 9 would be required. Yes, Ashton, Mr Rapid himself was tearing down the field like a dog on heat.

Even on one leg Ashton was no match for the returning blues and it was more luck than anything else that evaded Ashton's efforts.

A penalty awarded on the edge of the Blues 22 was easily dealt with by Bruce and the score moved on to 5-15, not too shabby with Dyl in the bin. But these 3 points proved to be the straw that broke the camel's back.  A delightful take from Alex Rae from the kick-off proved a fine example of Northampton's ascendancy; Saints were smarter and more adaptable everywhere on the pitch. Bedford having made some changes were now trying to keep the ball in play and force some mistakes and penalties from Northampton. None were forthcoming.
 

The usual scuttle of subs came and went from Saints side and it sured up that our boys would keep the pace at a high level and force the Blues to try and keep up. Which they struggled to do. Case in point being the Sin binning of JP. Blues had just been given a chink of light with a Pritchard penalty, only for JP to be made an example of after consistently not rolling away from the tackle area.

As with previous derby games this season Saints have been able to kill the game off with a flurry of skilful late tries, this game was no different.

Mark Easter scored a fine try with some excellent forward interplay from Big tiny along with Toops putting in the man who took the penalty quickly to begin with. Quicker in mind and now of body.  Saints looked to rub the schoolboy's face in the mud.  Chris Ashton followed up Easter's good try with a great piece of individual skill from a sloppy turnover.  With pace and grace he was able to put the game to bed as he sped over the line. Bruce was unsuccessful with the conversion but it hardly seemed to matter now, all hope was well out of the window for the Blues and supporters to could start to think about the possibility of a trip to HQ.

Finally foxy scored a lovely and fully deserved try after a great tussle with Sasha Harding all afternoon.  It put a bow on a very successful afternoon for the visitors who never needed to go any higher than third gear but still won't thank me for saying that as they got into the ice baths this morning.  I was glad to see that the saints showed Bedford some respect and tret this game with the same importance of a derby with the Tigers.

I also hope that Bedford have earned the respect of the Saints, all credit to them they never gave in but I can't help but compare them to Manchester United and Wales winger Ryan Giggs, a good player, often a great player but never in the pantheon of the true legends.

Why? Well while his temperament, work rate, dedication, talent and desire could never be questioned he never scored enough goals to justify the chances that fell to him over the years.  A record of 100 goals in   450 games does him no justice, just as this result does little for the Blues either.

Meanwhile the Saints continue the unbeaten run, which they now hope will include a quirky double. A plastic one or premierships friends might tell us, but as I often say, little apples are sweet...

Rob's Man of the match

Johnny Howard offered plenty of leadership and composure, a sure head when required

Rob's Unsung hero

Tom Smith I will have words with anyone who might dare say that he isn't the man.

Bedford Blues -

Pritchard

Moir

Roberts

Allen (capt)(Youngs 53mins)

Hinkins (Allen 67mins)

Patston (Elrick 58mins)

Dickson

Hawksworth (Lyon 48mins)

Richmond (Sammons 76mins)

Graham (Fortuna 76mins)

Phillips (Comb 77mins)

Brenton

Botha

Harding

McKay

Northampton Saints -

Reihana (capt)

Ashton (Myler 75mins)

Clarke (Ansbro 60mins)

Downey

Starling

Spencer

Howard (Robinson 63mins)

Smith (Tonga'uiha 63mins)

Hartley

Stewart (Shields 75mins)

Lord

Rae

Easter

Fox

Hopley (Tupai 40mins (Shields 48-56mins))

Pictures Courtesy Big Rich 

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