OTHER SPORT
SAINTS PRAYING FOR REDEMPTION
Northampton coach Paul Grayson
By Neil Squires
The vultures which hover above the lower reaches of the Guinness Premiership at this time of year are not a choosy bunch.
To them, the aristocrats can be as tasty as the artisans when it comes to the rich pickings of the relegation fight.
So as they circle above Franklin’s Gardens this afternoon, they will care little about the immaculate surroundings of a state-of-the-art rugby stadium or the pristine playing surface, only the satisfying dish which awaits them should Northampton finally succumb.
For all the star names, for all Keith Barwell’s millions, survival has passed out of the hands of a well-heeled but dysfunctional team.
The bones of one of English rugby’s traditional powerhouse clubs are exposed and ready for stripping. Northampton have made their pact with the Great Referee upstairs by refusing to pick their best hooker, Dylan Hartley, for today’s decisive game on moral grounds – despite him being technically free to do so after appealing against a six-month gouging suspension.
Now all the Saints can do is win at home this afternoon – a trick they have failed to pull off in 2007 – against a London Irish side who inflicted their heaviest defeat of a pretty heavy season at the Madejski Stadium in November, and pray for some overdue good fortune elsewhere.
Everything that could have gone wrong this season for Northampton seems to have done. The trail of calamity which ended in Hartley’s ban can be traced right back to the opening day of the season when their bright, attacking centre Jon Clarke broke his ankle in a tackle by Newcastle’s Jamie Noon.
He only returned two games ago after complications with ligament damage which necessitated a second operation. Combined with the long-term absence of Bruce Reihana, Clarke’s absence has taken the sting out of what should have been one of the Premiership’s most potent back lines. Their return has almost come too late for Northampton.
“It has been heartbreaking missing so much of the season,” said Clarke. “It’s a lot easier from the side pointing out where we could have passed the ball.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about things. An injury like this messes with your head.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights worrying about the future. We know we have to win this game. Worcester do have the harder game of the two but Irish are our bogey team. I don’t really want to talk about relegation but if it happens I’m sure the fans would be just as supportive, and we would come straight back up.
“And we have a guy backing us who is a massive fan and he is not going anywhere.”
That is a reassurance to Clarke, a West Country boy, who ended up at Northampton when Bristol collapsed into the relegation vortex four years ago.
Recommended by Bristol coach Peter Thorburn to his close friend Wayne Smith, the broken-field runner had blossomed by the end of last season into a potential England candidate.
Even so, there was a sense of desperation about the haste with which he was rushed back to face Wasps a fortnight ago after just half a game for the reserves.
Against the same opponents in the Heineken Cup last weekend Clarke, 23, looked more comfortable – albeit in an
exclusively defensive role.
Recovering from a bang on the ankle which left him hobbling out of the Ricoh Arena with only one shoe on should have helped banish the last of the demons.
“I was rusty, but Paul Grayson has given me a chance and I have to take it,” he said. “It’s us who have got ourselves into this position, and must get ourselves out of it.”
The corporate responsibility claim is commendable, but inaccurate. Clarke did not drag Northampton into this mess, but he can help pull them out of it.
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