Aviva Semi 1: Northampton Saints v Saracens, 23 May

First topic message reminder :

                    
Northampton Saints v Saracens
Saturday 23 May 2015
KO: 14:00
Franklin's Gardens

Live on BT Sport

Referee: Greg Garner (82nd Premiership game).
Assistant Referees: Luke Pearce and Matthew Carley.
TMO: Sean Davey.

A. Head to Head - Aggregate

46 Played 46
20 Wins 26
26 Losses 20
0 Draws 0
106 Tries 91
75 Conversions 62
115 Penalties 141
8 Drop Goals 15
1,049 Points 1,038
25 Avg. Age 28

B. Head to Head - This Season

Sun 23rd Nov 14 - Saracens 24 - 31 Northampton Saints

Sat 25th Apr 15 - Northampton Saints 25 - 20 Saracens

C. Run-In

Northampton Saints

16/05/15 Tigers 22 - 14 Saints

09/05/15 Saints 46 - 0 L Welsh

25/04/15 Saints 25 - 20 Saracens

Saracens

16/05/15 L Welsh 17 - 68 Saracens

10/05/15 Saracens 20 - 24 Chiefs

25/04/15 Saints 25 - 20

D. Teams

Northampton Saints

15 Ahsee TUALA
14 Ken PISI
13 George PISI
12 Luther BURRELL
11 Jamie ELLIOTT
10 Stephen MYLER
09 Lee DICKSON

01 Alex CORBISIERO
02 Dylan HARTLEY (capt)
03 Salesi MA’AFU
04 Courtney LAWES
05 Christian DAY
06 Tom WOOD
07 Calum CLARK
08 Samu MANOA

16 Mike HAYWOOD
17 Alex WALLER
18 Gareth DENMAN
19 Sam DICKINSON
20 Jon FISHER
21 Kahn FOTUALI’I
22 Tom STEPHENSON
23 James WILSON

Saracens

15 Alex Goode
14 Chris Wyles
13 Duncan Taylor
12 Brad Barritt
11 David Strettle
10 Owen Farrell
09 Richard Wigglesworth

01 Mako Vunipola
02 Jamie George
03 Petrus Du Plessis
04 George Kruis
05 Alistair Hargreaves (capt)
06 Maro Itoje
07 Jacques Burger
08 Billy Vunipola

16 Schalk Brits
17 Richard Barrington
18 Juan Figallo
19 Jim Hamilton
20 Jackson Wray
21 Neil de Kock
22 Charlie Hodgson
23 Chris Ashton

You only need to go back to 2013 Jimpy.

But I agree with you on the play-offs, sod them let's have a proper meaningful league.

Fuzzy Dunlop wrote:You only need to go back to 2013 Jimpy.

But I agree with you on the play-offs, sod them let's have a proper meaningful league.

And I think they might have nicked a title off Glaws early AP doors.... but still, They're not often a 'beneficiary' of the play-off system (as has been suggested).

Jimpy wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Ignoring any salary cap issues which arent proven the playoffs for the Premin rugby are the only ones that dont feel like a con to the teams involved. With club games running through internations you do end up seeing teams losing players through no fault of their own and affecting resulsts.

Is the playoff structure not meant to be in place in order to take account of games during internationals and also top end players getting pulled for Test matches? The premise being that it might not necessarily be true that the team that finishes top at the end regular season was the best team as they may have benefitted (supposedly) or capitalised on other teams during AIs and 6Ns periods.

Saracens got a great win on the road, never an easy task.  Bath made the Tigers look like an embarrasment.  I wonder will Bath look back on this season and rue not capitalising on meeting a poor Leinster team in the QFs of Europe (and probably paying them too much respect in the match)?

It will be an interesting final. Hopefully a open affair with plenty of tries (with the players deciding the result instead of the ref's whistle).

Whilst I could be accused of bias, as well as being almost pigeon English, that statement is pure fabrication. Both DoR were quoted as saying that the final score flattered Bath - yes Mike ford said it too. Cockerill did make some odd comments, but do try to look at the match stats. Leicester were hardly under the cosh. Finishing was their problem (and it has been all season). Bath were lucky not to have a penalty try against them when they had two yellow cards in quick succession under their own posts. However, they didn't, Bath got away and built an unassailable lead. Well played, they were better on the day.

'almost pigeon English' (?) Jimpy, as a dyslexic trying to post on these boards I'm not sure if I should take that as a complement or serious insult.

As for the statement, I stand by it even though the DoRs took a different view of the game. A good DoR should reign in the players after a comprehensive victory and not stick the boot in in the media after a comprehensive defeat. Ford and Cockerill are both very good at their job. Doesn't mean you can't disagree of course and you're perfectly entitled to do so.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Ignoring any salary cap issues which arent proven the playoffs for the Premin rugby are the only ones that dont feel like a con to the teams involved. With club games running through internations you do end up seeing teams losing players through no fault of their own and affecting resulsts.

Is the playoff structure not meant to be in place in order to take account of games during internationals and also top end players getting pulled for Test matches? The premise being that it might not necessarily be true that the team that finishes top at the end regular season was the best team as they may have benefitted (supposedly) or capitalised on other teams during AIs and 6Ns periods.

Saracens got a great win on the road, never an easy task.  Bath made the Tigers look like an embarrasment.  I wonder will Bath look back on this season and rue not capitalising on meeting a poor Leinster team in the QFs of Europe (and probably paying them too much respect in the match)?

It will be an interesting final. Hopefully a open affair with plenty of tries (with the players deciding the result instead of the ref's whistle).

Whilst I could be accused of bias, as well as being almost pigeon English, that statement is pure fabrication. Both DoR were quoted as saying that the final score flattered Bath - yes Mike ford said it too. Cockerill did make some odd comments, but do try to look at the match stats. Leicester were hardly under the cosh. Finishing was their problem (and it has been all season). Bath were lucky not to have a penalty try against them when they had two yellow cards in quick succession under their own posts. However, they didn't, Bath got away and built an unassailable lead. Well played, they were better on the day.

'almost pigeon English' (?) Jimpy, as a dyslexic trying to post on these boards I'm not sure if I should take that as a complement or serious insult.

As for the statement, I stand by it even though the DoRs took a different view of the game.  A good DoR should reign in the players after a comprehensive victory and not stick the boot in in the media after a comprehensive defeat.  Ford and Cockerill are both very good at their job. Doesn't mean you can't disagree of course and you're perfectly entitled to do so.

Like I said, if you don't believe two highly respected DoR, then try looking at the match stats too.

No complaints about the result personally.