top of page

Sale simply blown away!

Firstly, an apology. This article should have been on the website on Tuesday but a serious computer malfunction led to a significant delay and me having to rewrite it! All was lost......

The same thing can not be said for Saints first half performance on Friday night when we saw a display more more like the Saints of last season.

Quite a few commentators and supporters were suggesting that this would be a tight contest and when Sale went ahead with a penalty with two minutes I too felt that this could be a battle down to the wire and I was clutching my blood pressure medication in readiness.

Saints hit back straight away – with the team working as one to give Fin Smith the time to thread the ball cross field – Tommy Freeman and the bounce of the ball beat the hapless Sale full back Carpenter who had the sort of game that he’d rather forget. Fin attempted the conversion as it became apparent that Robbie Smith (no relation) had suffered a serious injury and was receiving treatment. Fin missed the target and Robbie was carried from the field – get well soon Robbie.

The centre partnership of Hutch and Freemo purred into action a few minutes later as the two combined to eat up the yards before putting skipper George Furbank in a victory roll over the line. Fin wasn’t going to miss for a second time and Saints were looking in control.

Sale clawed their way back to within two points when Cowan-Dickie was shoved over the line by his mauling mates and one of the Du Preez family converted.

But a moment’s madness from Sale saw the whole balance of the game tip away from them at an alarming rate. Sale’s Alex Wills tackled full back George Hendy when he was still some way in the air. George came down heavily on his shoulder and head. Ref Christoph Ridley at first deemed it to be a penalty only offence but unusually assistant ref Karl Dickson argued that it should be more and a yellow card was agreed upon.

Saints then moved up a gear. A line out followed by precision handling through the back line ended when Ramm, on as a blood replacement for Furbs, put Ollie Sleightholme over in the corner for Saint’s third try. And Ramm created a further moment of magic after Fin Smith had pounced on a ball lost forward by Sale. He popped it up to Ramm who spotted space and kicked ahead. It looked as if the erratic bounce of the ball might have defeated him but some deft footwork saw him re-gather safely and feed the ball to the onrushing Tom James who cantered over for the bonus point try. Breathless stuff with only 25 minutes gone and still four minutes to run on the yellow card.

Fin Smith then did Fin Smith things – mainly turning Sale inside out and upside down – firstly with a cross field kick to his mate Freemo who made the hard yards then another beautiful boot over the head of Sale wing Roebuck to put Ollie in for his second try.

Sale briefly had possession and were trying to move it across the backline but the galloping Ginger George Hendy read it too well, and there was no stopping the speedster. With Smith converting Saints went in to the changing rooms with a 30 point lead.

The teams trooped back out and Sale applied some pressure on Saints and Carpenter, in his one brief shining moment of the afternoon, scored a try. There then followed some tedious kick tennis which benefitted neither side and certainly didn’t impress the sell-out crowd.

Young Henry Pollock went from villain to hero in the blink of an eye when he misread a move from Gus Warr to allow him a tantalising view of the try line only for him to get back and hold up the Sale scrum half for no try!

Ramm then sealed the game with a glorious runaway try. Sale had again lost the ball, George Furbank made it safe and a short pop pass to Ramm saw the Aussie charge over half the length of the field to score. Smith converted.

The last quarter was a bit of anti-climax to be honest as Saints battened down the hatches to ensure the victory. Five points takes us up to fifth, and the season has an eerie resemblance to last with games won and lost at this stage of the season.

And now we face Bristol in the unhappy hunting ground of Ashton Gate, shorn of our English Internationals but blooding young George Makepeace-Cubitt. Another Friday night game – let’s hope the boys can make this one an away W!

Thanks, as always, to Claire Jones of RedHat Photo for the pictures. More can be found here.

To see and hear Claire and Lis talking about Saintly things head to LadiesWotPod on Youtube or Spotify or your favourite Podcast platform. For Facebook debates take a look at SaintsSinners group.

image.png

Saints debutant Gavin Thornbury with his packmates.

image.png

Airborne Aussie Angus Scott-Young wins the ball and his 50th cap for Saints

image.png

What a combo - England men Furbs and Freemo lay waste to Sale defence

image.png

So young, so talented, so Saintly! Fin Smith testing a Curry brother...

image.png

Precocious talent - Henry Pollock supported by the talented and dependable Tom Litchfield

image.png

A picture of pure joy - Rambo, Freemo and Litch!

  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Facebook

©2022 by Official Northampton Saints Supporter Club.

bottom of page