RugbyRebels

Northampton Saints: Mallinder; Tuala, Proctor, Francis, Collins; Grayson, Mitchell; Waller (co-capt), Marshall, Hill, Ratuniyarawa, Ribbans, Isiekwe, Ludlam (co-capt), Wood.

Replacements: Fish, Auterac, Franks, Coles, Adendorff, Taylor, Dingwall, Hutchinson.

Harlequins: Brown; Earle, Northmore, Esterhuizen, Murley; Smith, Care; Garcia Botta, Baldwin, Louw, Young, Lewies (capt), Lawday, Evans, Dombrandt.

Replacements: Gray, Els, Kerrod, Tizard, Chisholm, Steele, Lang, Marchant.

Two starts in a row for Mallinder!

Puja

How many tackles?

Less flippantly, how did he go in the first round?

Made 1 missed 1 tackles wise.
Granted didn't start but came on in the first 7 minutes.
Fairly anonymous but could say the same about all of the saints backs last week outside Procter who beat a few defenders.

But Sale are a tough team to play against.

Saints must start wining again, musnt they? This squad is too good be in the bottom half of the league.

fivepointer wrote:Saints must start wining again, musnt they? This squad is too good be in the bottom half of the league.

People said that about Tigers 3/4 years ago.
I miss those days.

Personally I think Boyd fell into the trap Mauger did and made a very small back row with a Lock playing out of position to add bulk. Remember how much damage Picamoles did for them. they replace him with a number 7 in Brüssow and then the even smaller Adendorff replaced Brüssow.

That being said Boyd is far more experienced and has a way better record than Mauger did.

Have Saints ever really recovered from losing Manoa?

Tough one to call here. Quins actually defended pretty well for 60mins against Exeter but showed nothing in attack apart from a couple of decent moments from Esterhuizen.

Saints have been poor for what feels like ages.

Remember though that they were one of the top teams in the first half of the 19/20 season - they fell away very hard after the lockdown, but they were fourth before the season turned into a three games per week rotatathon.

Puja

Puja wrote:Remember though that they were one of the top teams in the first half of the 19/20 season - they fell away very hard after the lockdown, but they were fourth before the season turned into a three games per week rotatathon.

Puja

True.
Although how much was that Reinach I'm amazed they didn't try and get a similar replacement.

Tigersman wrote:

Puja wrote:Remember though that they were one of the top teams in the first half of the 19/20 season - they fell away very hard after the lockdown, but they were fourth before the season turned into a three games per week rotatathon.

Puja

True.
Although how much was that Reinach I'm amazed they didn't try and get a similar replacement.

Mitchell and Taylor are both good young scrum halfs how they would have taken being kept down the pecking order by another big money signing. Mighty big boots to fill but you can't blame them entirely for a team of seasoned pros not turning up week in and week out.

Recruitment in the backline is odd for Saints as well, very little carrying threat in terms of power game if the big Fijian is injured. When the pack lacks powerful carriers as well it's a tough combination to make work for you. Pre lockdown they made attack look so easy by running great lines and then supporting any half break with numbers making offloads easy. Need a team full of confidence to play like that though.

Top quality try from quins.

e - scratch that - forward pass.

Two good tries for Quins. Northmore is looking increasingly good as a solid deputy for Marchant.

Saints are a bit of a mess, low in confidence and the back line have been rotated so much there is no cohesion.

Quins very good. Some of their tries were first class and there was a really nice fluidity about a lot of their play.

Saints had some good moments but again they lacked consistency and gave up too many easy yards.

Hutchinson needs to start IMO.

Tigersman wrote:Hutchinson needs to start IMO.

Alongside who?

Probably Francis. Whoever they pick they desperately need some consistency in selection. And they have to defend better. You always feel that there is a soft underbelly to the Saints defence which can be exploited. They give up too much ground and concede far too many tries.

I've not watch this apparent shit show yet, but agree about Hutch. It's tough because Proctor is decent too, especially defensively. Hutchinson really needs to be put at 13 though, where he is most effective breaking on the outside - rather than 12 like he kept getting shoehorned into at the end of last season

Tigersman wrote:Hutchinson needs to start IMO.

His defence is pretty ropey, and he was a bit iffy going forwards too.

Adam_P wrote:I've not watch this apparent shit show yet, but agree about Hutch. It's tough because Proctor is decent too, especially defensively. Hutchinson really needs to be put at 13 though, where he is most effective breaking on the outside - rather than 12 like he kept getting shoehorned into at the end of last season

They don’t like his defence at 13 I believe.

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:I've not watch this apparent shit show yet, but agree about Hutch. It's tough because Proctor is decent too, especially defensively. Hutchinson really needs to be put at 13 though, where he is most effective breaking on the outside - rather than 12 like he kept getting shoehorned into at the end of last season

They don’t like his defence at 13 I believe.

It's no better at 12, so may aswell put him in the position where he is more likely to create more in attack

Adam_P wrote:

Banquo wrote:

Adam_P wrote:I've not watch this apparent shit show yet, but agree about Hutch. It's tough because Proctor is decent too, especially defensively. Hutchinson really needs to be put at 13 though, where he is most effective breaking on the outside - rather than 12 like he kept getting shoehorned into at the end of last season

They don’t like his defence at 13 I believe.

It's no better at 12, so may aswell put him in the position where he is more likely to create more in attack

Bit of a problem either way, a centre who can’t defend

I think I’m biased because I’m so desperate for Scotland to have a centre who can reliably catch and pass. Is his defence really that bad?

Mikey Brown wrote:I think I’m biased because I’m so desperate for Scotland to have a centre who can reliably catch and pass. Is his defence really that bad?

That’s the word. It’s why they like Dingwall at 13 when they play together.