Not pretty, but beggars can’t be choosers. Northampton’s opening to the season has been such that a win – any old win – was all that mattered. They duly opened their European campaign with the desired result, against the kind of side who can cause them problems – indeed, who have caused them problems even at this very ground.
The Scarlets have enjoyed an excellent start to their season, up among the leaders of the Pro12. They are pacy and smart, with a fabulous back row. Physically, they struggled against the mighty Northampton set piece, but they scored a lovely try in the second half, run in between a posse of Northampton defenders by the incomparable Gareth Davies. If they had not missed four kicks at goal (two hitting the post) they might have prevailed. They will also rue their failure to score a single point during the two sin-bin spells Northampton served.
They would have been good for the win but equally it would have been against a stiff if not overwhelming tide. The Scarlets were missing some hefty front-row forwards, not to mention the Williams boys behind. This is not the place to be thus compromised. Northampton missed three kicks at goal of their own but the physical edge they held was undeniable.
The first of the yellow cards was shown to George North at the end of the first quarter – and quite a turning point it proved. Northampton were 7-3 up when they scored what looked like a wonderful, sweeping try from their own half. Alex Waller turned the ball over and Ken Pisi was away. Ben Foden, North and Luther Burrell combined slickly to send the latter over in the corner. But amid Burrell’s cathartic celebrations Romain Poite conferred with his TMO.
North had brought his boot down on Michael Tagicakibau, just before Burrell went over. The Scarlets winger was holding on to his foot long after the ball had gone but a stamp these days is a stamp. Had it connected with his head, instead of glancing off his shoulder, the colour of card might have been a shade darker. North went to the bin and the try was struck off.
A mere yellow it may have been but it was North’s last meaningful contribution against his old mates from out west. After last week’s announcement by Scarlets of Jonathan Davies’s return home from France, there has been talk linking North to a similar move. “We are very, very confident that George will stay,” said Jim Mallinder, the Northampton head coach. “Very confident.”
Nevertheless, North’s indiscretion rather pricked Northampton’s bubble. No doubt chastened by their lack of fizz in the defeat to Saracens here last week, they had burst into the match with vim. They were watched by Victor Matfield, who is likely to stiffen further a set piece hardly in need of it. Meanwhile, another new signing, JJ Hanrahan, was starting his first game at fly-half. The Irishman looked sharp in attack, darting round the fringes of a messy scrum to put Ken Pisi over for the game’s first try with only six minutes gone.
The Saints looked comfortable, if only fitfully dominant at the scrum in those early exchanges, but they struggled to shake off the tenacious Scarlets. DTH van der Merwe continued his form from the World Cup, a threat whenever he received the ball, as in his rather different way was Jake Ball.
Steve Shingler opened the Scarlets’ account with a penalty in the first quarter, but both fly-halfs, despite their contributions in attack, kept missing those kicks. Hanrahan missed two penalties in the first half, and Shingler not only missed from the tee but missed touch with a couple of penalties he tried to send to the corner. How rare the attacking fly-half reliable of boot.
A straightforward penalty by Shingler brought the Scarlets to within a point at half-time. They might have taken the lead just a couple of minutes after the break but Shingler skewed his shot at goal horribly. Instead, they did so in a style more in keeping with the tradition of Llanelli. Aled Thomas and Gareth Owen carved Northampton up on the counterattack, and the latter sent Davies on a brilliant run for the Wales scrum-half’s latest try.
But if that is the West Walian way, the East Midlands manner is no less difficult to deal with. Within a few minutes of Davies’s try, the Saints drove Waller ruthlessly over the line from an attacking lineout, then, with Jamie Gibson in the bin, smashed the Scarlets scrum to earn the penalty by which they moved four points clear.
Back to the tried and trusted. Back to winning ways at Franklin’s Gardens. They will need more of the stardust of those early minutes, though, if they are to make it out this fiendish pool.
