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Saracens expose same old problems for Saints

By Andy Goode
Northampton Saints director of rugby sacked

Once is a mistake but twice is a pattern and a second embarrassment in six weeks at the hands of the same opposition shows Northampton haven’t learned their lessons.

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This was worse than that opening day defeat to Saracens in the Premiership. You can try to brush off a game like that at Twickenham as a one-off because you can say that it was on a neutral ground or a big pitch or that it was the first game of the season so you were rusty.

But to lose even more heavily than that, and in the manner that they did in front of their own fans, is unforgivable.

Going into the first game of the Champions Cup, you expect the team to be absolutely pumped and really fired up to make an impression, especially given that they had to work so hard to get into the competition and play for an extra couple of weeks at the end of last season in the play-offs.

Courtney Lawes showed some physicality but that was about it. They got bullied all over the pitch. It was a lacklustre performance and there wasn’t much evidence of physical intent for me.

It’s a cliché but forwards win you matches and backs decide by how many and I’ve thought for a while that, Lawes aside, this Saints pack just isn’t physical enough. When you take Louis Picamoles out of it from last season as well, it really is very underpowered.

Northampton have got a decent backline but if you can’t match the opposition up front and be as physical as them, then you’re in trouble.

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When you get a second bite at the cherry against a team that embarrassed you just six weeks ago, the least you expect is a gung ho attitude, some real fight and a massive effort to physically dominate them.

It just didn’t look like there was any fight in that Northampton team and they looked shell-shocked from the very first minute.

I’ve been on the wrong end of hidings before but body language and giving the impression that you’re putting everything into the game physically is important and I just didn’t see that. You have to question the mentality of the players and ask how much playing for Northampton means to them.

They travel to Clermont this week and you have to hope there will be a reaction, as there was in round two of the Premiership campaign, but they’re on a hiding to nothing at the Stade Marcel Michelin.

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That is one of the most intimidating places to play in the world and if you can’t turn up against Saracens on your own patch after you’ve been embarrassed against them six weeks ago, then you have no chance over there.

As bad as Northampton were, though, Saracens were unbelievable. There are a few pretenders to their European crown but that is the definition of laying down a marker. They have reasserted that they are the best team in Europe and shown that they intend to defend their title and are as serious as ever.

That’s 19 games unbeaten in the top tier of European competition now. Nobody has ever done that before. It’s a unique achievement and they’re a special group of players who look determined to emulate Toulon’s achievement of winning three straight European Cups. http://gty.im/861835092

Saints face Wasps when the Premiership returns and that game will be huge in terms of momentum and mood in the camp because a two-week break for the Anglo Welsh Cup follows that and then we’re into the autumn internationals.

Wasps have got their own issues at the moment, having lost five games on the spin, and they’ll be going into that match off the back of a cup final against Quins this weekend. Both will have been disappointed with their results in round one and the loser is, realistically, going to be out of the Champions Cup already.

Wasps were underpowered when they faced Saracens recently with 20-year-old Jack Willis starting and his 18-year-old brother Tom coming off the bench but at least they showed some fight and the desire to play for Wasps.

I didn’t see any Northampton player, apart from Lawes, looking like they really wanted to fight for the jersey.

They have certainly got a mental block playing against Saracens now but I think it’s more than that and they lack the power to compete at the highest level.

They won four games on the bounce before losing at Gloucester last week and went top of the Premiership briefly but I think that has papered over the cracks and this latest thrashing has exposed the fact that there are still major problems to be addressed.

Sport does give you the opportunity to right the wrongs of the previous week, though, and prove to everyone what you’re all about. They have got to go and get some pride back over in France but whether they can do that remains to be seen.

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Jon 6 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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