THE MOST PUZZLING thing to come out of the Champions Cup this year has got to be the capitulation of Northampton. The Saints are motoring at the top of the Aviva Premiership but their last two games in Europe saw them soundly trounced by Racing Metro and Clermont.
Nobody can live with ASM when they are in that sort of irresistible form but the way Northampton meekly rolled over in the 37-5 defeat was pretty galling.
They have a ferociously tigerish pack backboned by Alex Corbisiero, Courtney Lawes and Samu Manoa and although their European campaign ended in failure, they look set for a successful defence of their Aviva crown.
They took on European semi-finalists Saracens at Twickenham today and a powerful second half saw them win 25-20.
American wing Chris Wyles scored two tries for Saracens while Northampton out-half Stephen Myler kicked 20 points as Manoa added a try.
The victory gives Northampton a five-point lead at the top of the table with two rounds left and they will almost certainly have a home semi-final.
They should enjoy Manoa’s contributions while they can though, as the American is off to Toulon at the end of the season.
Northampton’s dominant display today makes their Champions Cup performances even more mystifying. After all, they were only six-point underdogs against Clermont but were down by about 500 points after 30 minutes.
Even when on the bench he didn’t get game time. The coach doesn’t like or trust him. Saturday once again showed just how wrong O’connor has been all season
O’Connor is just all wrong for Leinster.
He has a very big chance next season with Leinster during the World Cup, midfield won’t be as competitive so he should get a good run of matches.
Mark if Darcy doesn’t make the World Cup squad, he’ll play 12 with t’eo at 13. Then Madigan and sexton will be back so the midfield won’t be as easy to get into as you may think
That pop pass from O’Brien
Battle between him and Madigan for the 12 jersey next season.
It’s always to easy to see who coaches ‘just like/don’t like’. When Gopperth played badly it was ignored whereas when Madigan played mediocre or even if Reid played well decisions went against them.
It creates such a poisonous culture as some players start to feel entitled to spots and others feel it doesn’t matter how well they play they won’t get picked. Cody and Fergusson were masters at disregarding players identities and judging on match performance alone. MOC is such a stink manager.