Saints Vs Irish - Sat 2pm

[Adam_P]

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson and John Meredith
No.4: Dean Richards
TMO: Sara Cox

Northampton Saints London Irish
George Furbank 15 H. Arundell
Ollie Sleightholme 14 B.Loader
Matt Proctor 13 C.Rona
Rory Hutchinson 12 B.J V Rensburg
Tom Collins 11 O. Hassell-Collins
Dan Biggar (c) 10 P.Jackson
Alex Mitchell 9 B.White

Alex Waller 1 F.Gigena
Sam Matavesi 2 M.Cornish
Paul Hill 3 L.Chawatama
Lukhan Salakaia-Loto 4 R.Simmons
Alex Moon 5 A.Coleman (c)
Alex Coles 6 B.Donnell
Aaron Hinkley 7 T.Pearson
Juarno Augustus 8 M.Rogerson

Replacements
Mike Haywood 16 I.Miller
Emmanuel Iyogun 17 D.Fischetti
Alfie Petch 18 C.Parker
Brandon Nansen 19 A.Ratuniyarawa
Angus Scott-Young 20 C.Cunningham-South
Callum Braley 21 C.Englefield
Tom Litchfield 22 L.Morisi
Courtnall Skosan 23 W.Joseph

[Mellsblue]

Who is the Saints 7? Never heard of him etc etc

[Adam_P]

Apologies for the format - had it all spaced out properly, but it doesn't seem to want to display spaces/tabbing.

Potential for a very entertaining game here, two sets of exciting backs. Good to see Hutchinson back with us - certainly our most creative centre. Hopefully Ratuniyarawa doesn't come back off the bench to bite us!

[FKAS]

Somewhat annoyed this isn't on BT, looks like it'll be a cracking game.

I suspect Biggar will look to test Arundell's positioning and work under the high ball. Sleightholme and Collins should be quick enough to apply plenty of pressure.

[fivepointer]

Game of the weekend.

[Puja]

Game of the weekend.

I think Quins vs Sarries looks pretty tasty, but this is clearly a step up on Worcester vs Exeter which is the other televised game.

Puja

[Adam_P]

Somewhat annoyed this isn't on BT, looks like it'll be a cracking game.

I suspect Biggar will look to test Arundell's positioning and work under the high ball. Sleightholme and Collins should be quick enough to apply plenty of pressure.

Until a couple of days ago it wasn't going to be on PRTV either, due to the rescheduling. At least they've sorted that out or Saints were going to have both games from the first two rounds not broadcast at all and with no TMO.

[FKAS]

Somewhat annoyed this isn't on BT, looks like it'll be a cracking game.

I suspect Biggar will look to test Arundell's positioning and work under the high ball. Sleightholme and Collins should be quick enough to apply plenty of pressure.

Until a couple of days ago it wasn't going to be on PRTV either, due to the rescheduling. At least they've sorted that out or Saints were going to have both games from the first two rounds not broadcast at all and with no TMO.

Ridiculous isn't it. Wish it had been on last night, was struggling to find anything to watch last night.

[Adam_P]

No Biggar, Grayson starting at 10

[Adam_P]

Quality opening try - chip and gather from Mitchell then a great pass out to Augustus who finishes well

[Adam_P]

Alex Waller has become a liability. Scrums are an absolute mess, and his backchat just got us marched 10m.

[Adam_P]

Lack of experience showing from Arundel there - tracking across to gather a Northampton chip ahead, instead of gathering the ball and walking out of play he flings it into touch and cops a yellow for it

[Adam_P]

Saints unable to score against a period of 12 men, ridiculous. So many handling errors

[Adam_P]

Very impressed with Alfie Petch off the bench. Scrum was significantly more powerful with him and Iyogun than with Waller and Hill, and he carried like a beast a couple of times. Iyogun took a knock towards the end, but really hope he is uninjured and starts alongside Petch for Tigers next week.

[Banquo]

Very impressed with Alfie Petch off the bench. Scrum was significantly more powerful with him and Iyogun than with Waller and Hill, and he carried like a beast a couple of times. Iyogun took a knock towards the end, but really hope he is uninjured and starts alongside Petch for Tigers next week.

How did Colesy go?

[Adam_P]

Had a good game - lots of positive involvement. Probably the pick of the pack along with Augustus

[Puja]

Mitchell looked like he played an absolute blinder. Great to see him still undaunted - while I'm pleased JvP adapted so well to being thrown in at the deep end for England, I remain astounded that Mitchell wasn't playing all three tests in Australia.

Puja

[Adam_P]

Yep Mitchell was top notch - I am also confused by the lack of international recognition. Be interesting to see what happens this year with Mitchell looking on form, JvP taking to international like a duck to water and Quirke hopefully back for the season.

Still, Eddie will probably go for Randall and Youngs.

[Margin_Walker]

Been away and just caught up with the game.

Bit of a regulation loss really, with not too many redeeming features. One of those games with big momentum shifting infringements at all the wrong moments from a LI point of view. We never really looked in the hunt and Mitchell ran the show.

Coleman looks done for a while and we could really do with the likes of Fa’aso’o and Hoskins involved to get us over the gainline. Think Basham would have given us a touch more than Rogerson at 8 in the interim. Interestingly Donnell's been our best performing back row so far for me.