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Northampton Saints and the Ospreys will be battling to revive their Heineken Cup chances at Franklin's Gardens on Sunday. - 19/10/2013 13:49
Northampton Saints and the Ospreys will be battling to revive their Heineken Cup chances at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday.
Both sides crashed to defeats in the opening round of European action – the English club put to the sword by Romain Marital’s interception try in Castres Olympique’s 19-13 victory.
They have never faced each other in European action but the Saints will take confidence from their record at Franklin’s Gardens where they have a 79 per cent success rate.
Jim Mallinder has rung the changes for the Pool One the clash with Lee Dickson replacing former Osprey Kahn Fotual’i at scrum-half and Alex Walker coming in for injured Alex Corbisiero, while Jamie Elliot, Phil Dowson and Samu Manoa also start.
The Ospreys were left seething following their home defeat to Leinster in Round One. Alun Wyn Jones described the performance as unacceptable and Richard Fussell has branded Sunday’s showdown as a “do or die” encounter.
The Welsh region have failed to reach the knockout stages in Europe in the last four seasons and are already on the back foot but they remain confident of causing an upset in Northampton.
Steve Tandy has made three changes to his side Tito Tebaldi has paid the price for poor decision-making at the Liberty Stadium, with Tom Habberfield handed the scrum-half jersey, while Ryan Bevington and Jeff Hassler also start.
“We are well aware that we need to make some big improvements if we are going to put in the kind of performance at Northampton that we need,” said Tandy. “They are in the same boat as us having also lost their first game, so no doubt there’ll be a tension and edge to the game.
“This is a very difficult group but there’s still everything to play for and there’s going to be plenty of twists and turns. We have to show what we are about on Sunday.”
Dylan Hartley's front row clash with British & Irish LIons hooker Richard Hibbard will be one of the more interesting personal battles on the day and whichever team gets on top in the front five will probably come away with the points.
Northampton Saints flexed their muscle to kick-start their Heineken Cup campaign with an impressive victory over the Ospreys. - 20/10/2013 14:41
Northampton Saints flexed their muscle to kick-start their Heineken Cup campaign with an impressive victory over the Ospreys.
The English side’s physical presence proved too much for the Welsh region with second-rows Courtney Lawes and Christian Day leading the charge.
They took control of the encounter thanks to first-half tries from Samu Manoa and Day. Biggar kept the Ospreys in touch and grabbed a try after the break but Ben Foden put the result beyond doubt.
The victory sees Jim Mallinder’s men climb to second in Pool One, while the Ospreys remain rooted rock-bottom.
Northampton made a thunderous start to the encounter and earned a penalty inside 30 seconds, which Myler slotted.
They continued to play the game at the ferocious pace and Manoa cantered over after Ryan Jones was caught napping at a dominant Saints scrum.
Myler added the extras and the Dan Biggar knocked over quick-fire penalties as the Ospreys clawed their way back.
But the Saints took a major stride towards victory as their strike runners caused the Ospreys problems once again.
Luther Burrell crossed the gain-line twice and following several phases Phil Dowson and Courtney Lawes displayed slick hands to put Day over in the corner.
Mylar slotted the difficult conversion to hand his side a 17-6 lead at the interval.
But whatever a visibly angered Steve Tandy said in the changing rooms did the trick as the Ospreys responded in the second-half.
They piled the pressure on the English club right from kick-off with both Richard Hibbard and Alun Wyn Jones both coming close.
And the Swansea-based outfit got their reward when Biggar twisted and turned his way over to score, adding the simple conversion.
But they were dealt a major blow when Foden scampered over for Saints’ third try. A powerful driving lineout threatened to breach the Ospreys line and after they held it at bay the ball was released to Day, who released Foden with a sublime quick-pass.
Myler was once again on target to stretch his side’s lead to 11-points. Biggar chipped away but Myler was more than a match and cancelled out his efforts.
Saints pressed for a bonus-point try at the death but they were unable to cross the whitewash despite Biggar being sent to the sin-bin.
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