Wood praises Gardens faithful

Aviva Man of the match Tom Wood

Despite displaying the scars of battle Tom Wood was all smiles following the Saints’ Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 1 win over Leicester. The big flanker marked his debut with an all-action display that earned the Aviva man of the match award. But as well as thanking the fans he also said that Leicester were a tough opponent to open the league campaign.
 

“They’re the champions and deserve respect, but we’ve built a fortress at home which we’re proud of,” Wood said after the match, by that time sporting a considerable bandage thanks to a cut sustained in the final few minutes. “We were confident, but we had to do the hard work first.”
Wood also paid tribute to the capacity crowd, who once again packed into Franklin’s Gardens to cheer their team home.
“It was a really great atmosphere,” he added. “To hear the crowd behind you was brilliant. It really spurs you on.”
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder said that the front row duo of Soane Tonga’uiha and Brian Mujati, who between them scored all of the Saints’ three tries, typified the effort put in by their team’s pack.
“Soane’s a massive threat,” he said. “It’s what we want from our forwards. We want them good in the tight. We were very pleased with all our tight five forwards and to see both props scoring tries is very pleasing.”

Saints off to a flyer thanks to prop power

Tonga'uiha gets the score started (pic Claire Jones)

A sold-out Franklin’s Gardens welcomed Aviva Premiership Rugby for the first time with a pulsating East Midlands derby win for the Saints.A brace of first-half tries from Soane Tonga’uiha and one for fellow prop Brian Mujati secured the result before the hour, despite a thrilling comeback from the Tigers after Dylan Hartley’s yellow card.

The afternoon started with Ben Foden collecting his first high ball of the day and though he was stopped in his tracks by Craig Newby, the Tigers were guilty of diving over the top and Stephen Myler gave the Saints a good attacking platform on the opposition 22.
Debutant Tom Wood collected at the tail of the Saints’ first lineout and a rolling maul on the right hand side put the Saints within touching distance. Following Myler’s half-break the ball was in the hands of Tonga’uiha who barrelled over for the Saints’ first try, just two and a half minutes in.
Converted by Myler, the try was a perfect start on a glorious afternoon and Foden again took the opportunity to charge the ball back just moments later. The England full back must have had Tigers defenders worried, much like his international colleague Chris Ashton, who dragged in two men with a typically piercing line before offloading for another Tonga’uiha try, this time under the posts.
It was a turbo-charged start and the champions had no answer to the Saints’ direct approach and power early on.
The next five minutes gave the Tigers a chance to get some ball and after a few changes of possession, Toby Flood pinned the Saints back on their own 5-metre line with an offside penalty. The ball was spread slickly from the lineout but when Scott Hamilton cut against the grain and looked to have scored, only excellent work from Jon Clarke and the TMO’s decision denied the Tigers a first score of the afternoon.
Although they launched another wave of phases at the Saints’ line, the ball was eventually turned over and cleared almost up to half-way.
Looking for any sort of foothold in the game, Alesana Tuilagi broke for the Tigers after a switch of play from Ben Youngs, though rather than passing inside to Geordan Murphy, who had a clear run at the line, the Samoan attempted to bounce of Foden. The full back had other ideas and showed his strength to take down the big winger and force the ball into touch.
Nevertheless, advantage was being played and Flood had a chance to make something from the situation with a penalty, on the angle from 35-metres out. His miss wide right left Tigers point-less, but an over-cooked clearance from Foden moved the visitors back into Saints territory. Though Dan Hipkiss’ pass went awry, his dummy and burst around Clarke served as a warning to the Saints.
However, it was the Saints who earned the next shot at points, Lee Dickson’s quick tap lured Leicester players in before he had advanced 10-metres, but while excellently struck, Myler’s long ranger was narrowly wide.
Just minutes later, the Saints number ten had an opportunity to make amends for his miss and did just that, stretching the lead to 17 points.
The pitch was in great nick, thanks as always to David Powell and the Saints’ legend drew a cheer from the sell out crowd as he snuck on to repair some divots with play at the other end of the field.
It was the end where Leicester would spring back into the game, a patiently evolving move was switched from left to right and as the Tigers had worked men over, Tuilagi this time made the right decision to go it alone and score.
Following the restart, Murphy was put under immense pressure by the flying Ashton and when help arrived, the Tigers captain was forced to hold on. His gamble paid off though as Myler missed the wide penalty but the Saints’ pressure was proving too much for the visitors and just moments later their fly half was at the tee once more.
Although things were running smoothly for Myler in open play, he looked far from his normal self with the boot and another chance went begging. It seemed however that a never ending run of penalties were coming the Saints way.
With advantage being played again, Phil Dowson’s woeful attempt at a drop goal was followed by another Myler miss and the Saints were left hoping they wouldn’t be made to pay for a wasteful 10 minutes.
The half finished with Jeremy Staunton, on for the injured Flood, missing a short drop goal chance just seconds after turning down a kickable chance and the Saints’ 10-point lead remained intact.
Leicester came out looking for a quick start to the second half with Youngs calling the shots and after a spell of phases the Saints were penalised for not rolling away. Staunton was next to struggle with kicking in the stiff breeze around the Gardens and Hamilton then felt the full force of Courtney Lawes from the restart, the Saints lock putting in a first trademark big hit of the campaign.
Like the Tigers in the first half though, the Saints discipline was waning, only let off with a last warning from referee Dave Pearson and another poor effort from Staunton.
With no possession to speak of in the second half, the Saints still managed to win a penalty in Leicester territory, Foden, Ashton and then Clarke harassing and hurrying Hamilton and then Allen into the error. Myler again looked as though he was struggling with the wind though and his straight kick drifted wide.
Another Tigers error and Dickson’s quick lineout to Wood almost caught Leicester unawares, all but Ben Woods, who made a superb saving tackle before a Saints pass eluded Brian Mujati into touch.
With no score for almost half an hour the game looked to have burned out, but Saints replacement Shane Geraghty brought it back to life. Spotting Dan Cole in his path, Geraghty sped around the outside and his offload was matched by an equally impressive one from Phil Dowson to Mujati, who shrugged off the attentions of the Leicester cover to score. Geraghty mastered the wind first time to curl the extras over to take the lead to an imposing 17 points with less than a quarter to play.
Another promising looking Saints attack was hauled down just in front of the posts before George Chuter all but ended the Tigers hopes when he was yellow carded for another offence at the breakdown. Geraghty’s easy three-pointer meant the Saints were now seemingly hunting the try bonus.
Frustratingly though, it would be the Tigers who moved onto the front foot and opened the game back up as the Saints lost skipper Hartley for continual offences, again at the breakdown. Tigers scrummed in front of the posts and moved the ball out to Murphy who flicked the ball on expertly, giving Hamilton an un-missable chance.
Staunton converted and almost immediately from the restart it was the same combination that undid the Saints, more magic from Murphy weaving through the Saints played in the Kiwi wing for his second of the afternoon.
The game was being played out at a frenetic pace, Ashton’s chip and chase found touch as he raced past Murphy before Foden isolated Manu Tuilagi with a fine burst, but the insurance score wasn’t forthcoming and the ball was back in Tigers hands with just three minutes to play.
Callum Clark briefly stole back possession in his first linout for the Saints, before the Tigers comeback was finally halted as Manu Tuilagi dropped the ball looking for his elder brother. They did receive one final chance to scrape a losing bonus but after Murphy knocked on and Ryan Powell hesitated, Clark punted the ball out to finally secure the perfect start to the Saints’ season.

Aviva Man of the Match:
Tom Wood