A win was non-negotiable for Northampton, and the force of will such situations tend to elicit won out. The Saints reacquainted themselves with the feeling of topping a table, albeit one game in with the other in the pool postponed.
It looked early-on as if they might run away with this one but teams on a bad run, as Saints are in the Premiership, often struggle to press home an advantage. In the end, they had to call on that force of will against a weakened Scarlets team still fast and clever enough to sting anyone.
“They stuck in the fight and it was a pretty nail-biting last 10 minutes,” said Tom Wood, the man of the match. “That could have easily gone against us. You are relying on the bounce of the ball, a refereeing decision, a chargedown, an intercept – anything like that can break your heart in the last second. We were lucky to get away with it.”
In the final 10 minutes, the Scarlets were awarded a penalty, trailing by four points. Some captains might have opted for the corner, all the more so with the draw just out of reach with a shot at goal. The goal-kicking had been particularly unconvincing for both teams, but with Steve Shingler off, John Barclay threw the tee to Aled Thomas. On a windy night, his shot from a fair distance on the angle hit a post.
“It was a tight game,” said Barclay, Scarlets’ captain. “My thought process was we take the three, get back down there and try to win a penalty. I thought it would be one of those games when it was one or two points.”
That it was one of those games was testament to the Scarlets’ wit and spirit. They travelled to a famously unforgiving arena without, among others, their regular captain, Ken Owens, and Samson Lee, international front-row forwards both. They could have done with the ballast because just to hold their own was a struggle of concentration for the visitors’ scrum. They managed it enough to suggest they were capable, but every now and then the Saints scrum would go through them. They will consider a losers’ bonus point a reasonable return from such an assignment. This pool is likely to be tight.
Owens should return for the home match against Racing 92 next week, while Dylan Hartley, missing with a head knock, should be back for Northampton’s trip to Glasgow. It had looked briefly as if they might be heading up to that testing assignment with a full house of points. JJ Hanrahan, making his first start at fly-half since his signing from Munster, looked sharp and sent Ken Pisi over in the first 10 minutes. Then Northampton seemed to have worked a superb long-range try for Luther Burrell at the end of the first quarter, but a stamp by George North was spotted in the build-up.
The try was struck off and North sent to the sin-bin. With him went Northampton’s momentum. A brilliant try from Gareth Davies in the third quarter earned Scarlets the lead for a couple of minutes, before Alex Waller was driven over for a second Northampton try and Hanrahan slotted a penalty after another big scrum.
Which paved the way for the now-mandatory England coach charade. Jim Mallinder became the latest to rule himself out. For the record, his way of putting the familiar line was: “I’m not going anywhere. This is my club. I have lots of challenges ahead this season, and I’m looking forward to those.”
So it was over to Wood to offer his thoughts on the matter. “Certainly on a personal note [I am sad to see Stuart Lancaster leave]. I have got an awful lot of respect for him. I can vouch for his work rate and commitment. Obviously at this level you are judged on results, and we have all got to look at ourselves and say we didn’t get the result, so we have all got to be accountable. We will fight for our places in the national team.
“ I don’t want any stupid headlines about Jim for England but I can certainly vouch for his character as well and the work we do here. I just hope the RFU do their due diligence and get the right man. Then we can all put this behind us, move on and start to build.”
Amen to that.
Northampton Foden; K Pisi (Tuala ,53), G Pisi (Myler, 62), Burrell, North; Hanrahan, Dickson (capt; Fotuali’i, 73); A Waller (E Waller, 64), Haywood, Brookes (Hill, 64), Craig (Harrison 65), Day (Paterson 20), Gibson, Wood, Dickinson.
Tries K Pisi, A Waller. Con Hanrahan. Pen Hanrahan.
Sin-bin North 20, Gibson 65.
Scarlets Thomas; Tagicakibau, Owen, Parkes, Van der Merwe; S Shingler (T Williams, 74), G Davies (A Davies, 74); Evans (John, 67), Phillips, Edwards, Ball, Paulino (Rawlins, 57), A Shingler, J Davies, Barclay (capt).
Try G Davies. Pens S Shingler 2.
Referee R Poite (Fr). Attendance 14,512.
