A day that will live long in the memory on Saturday as the Saints overcame Wasps at at the Gardens where the crowd were on song and in top voice, the sun shone and the team did the business on the pitch. It seems after all that this was just the right time to play Wasps but that is not taking anything away from the lads’ efforts. Whilst the national media in the following days were full of how it was Wasps that lost the game rather than Saints that won it the truth was we were probably a lot better than the score line suggested.

Meanwhile Shaun Edwards would haveyou believe the opposite. According to Mr Edwards, Wasps apparently ‘gifted’ us14 points through their own mistakes suggesting therefore that they were the better side. I know I saw Edwards strutting up and down the touchline steam coming from his nostrils but from that statement I think he must have been at a different game. Wasps were not only second on the scoreboard but second in effort and application. Outthought and outfought.

Three tries to one is a testament to that but had a couple of off beam kicks found the target in the first period Wasps would never have been in it and when you add that to fact that a rush of blood probably prevented a second try being scored just minutes after Bruce Reihana’s45 second opener perhaps even more so. Academic now but had those opportunities been nailed our score might have been nearer to 40.

After the weekend result somebody suggested on one of the message boards this week that the “Saints are back!”. I would like to reserve my judgement a little longer but I am sure we are doing better than anyone privately thought we would. Make no bones about it, it may have been an out of sorts Wasps side but they still had class in just about every position. Some of those players looked at best ordinary, at worst anonymous, and not all that was down to the perceived problems currently at their club. Quite simply some of them were outplayed by their opposite numbers and whilst Mr Edwards (again) might complain about law changes not suiting his team the real answers might be closer to home.

As an Englishman there is a down side to this though. A fair few of those underperformers are in the England set up and on Saturdays showing, bar maybe Phil Vickery, you have to wonder why. I am sure at some time Wasps and hopefully those players will return to form, if they do not then maybe another argument that after all too many England players at any one club is maybe not such a good thing? Time will tell but from a Saints point of view things are indeed looking promising.

LACK OF JUDGEMENT

No it is not have a dig at Wasps week but there were more than a few raised eyebrows at the one week ban handed out to their flanker James Haskell for headbutting. The minimum sentence for such an offence is six weeks and as this was not just a straightforward ‘Glasgow kiss’ but diving head first into a ruck at another player and making contact with his head you might thought young Haskell would be kicking his heels for some time to come, but no. There have been accusations in the past of these hearings favouring England squad players and this sentence does nothing to dispel that view. I do not know if there is an opposite to a kangaroo court but reading the whole report from the RFU its seems that any excuse was used to cut Haskell’s sentence further. It was said others were involved that were not hauled before the court and this was held in mitigation thus a minimum, that’s minimum recommended ban of six weeks is reduced laughably to one. Back in the real world, a place that I’m sure that is totally alien to some of these people sitting in judgement, could you imagine the uproar if you read the headline‘ Joe Bloggs Sentence Reduced Because Accomplice Got Away’. Is it really any different?

SARRIES

The Saints rollercoaster, currently on an upward curve, heads for Watford on Saturday to take on Saracens. Under Eddie Jones Sarries have recruited well over the summer acquiring the likes of Steve Borthwick and are tipped by some as this seasons dark horses therefore it was suprising that it took them three weeks to record their first win. However, last Sunday at Vicarage Road they did it in style demolishing Newcastle, who had previously beat Saints, by 44 points to 14.

The Fezheads are sure to want to get some momentum going; especially at home and despite all the euphoria after the win over Wasps it is going to be a tough one. Having said that, if you take our result up at Newcastle as a blip, given last weeks efforts it is definitely a game we can get something out of if we are on top of our game. Sure there are things still to be worked on but we might just have enough grit to edge this one too.

CALLS

Just like in real life when you think all is well in international relations another spat starts.

No sooner had the clubs agreed a framework with the RFU over English player release dates (though we have yet to see the full impact of this) than we get a fall out between the clubs umbrella organisation, PRL, and the Scottish RFU over their players plying their trade down south. On Monday ten players including Euan Murray and Sean Lamont were barred from travelling to Scotland for a training day.

You can see both sides of the argument, the clubs are entering a busy period with midweek games next week(Saints take on Tigers at Welford Road) but to be fair to the Scots their coaches must be able to run the rule over their players periodically too. However, a quart has never fitted into a pint pot and everyone cannot have his or her way. The ones that will lose out no doubt will be the players. How long before these shunned countries follow New Zealand’s lead and say you have to play here to qualify for the national side. In return not all those Scottish players will be exposed to the intensity (or indeed the wages) of the Guinness Premiership, a no win situation all round.

Something has to give sooner or later, let’s hope it does not take the decade or so it took the PRL and RFU deal to come to fruition. I would not hold my breath though...

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS