Northampton v Bath: Five takeaways as Fin Smith saves Saints’ blushes while Johann van Graan’s ‘B team’ claim ‘psychological victory’
Fin Smith of Northampton Saints celevrates his try and an inset of Bath's Tom De Glanville.
Following Northampton Saints’ 41-38 victory over Bath in the top of the Prem Rugby table clash at Franklin’s Gardens, here are our five takeaways.
Top Line
An overhauled Bath outfit arrived at Franklin’s Gardens largely written off, with many predicting that they would be on the wrong end of a hiding, but the PREM Rugby title holders had different ideas as they fought right to the final whistle in an epic encounter, fitting of the occasion.
A match of punch and counterpunch saw both Northampton and Bath score six tries and convert four, with Fin Smith providing the difference with a last-gasp penalty to seal the win and cement their place at the top of the standings as they take next week off while Johann van Graan’s charges turn their attention to a Champions Cup semi-final against Bordeaux.
That was the reasoning for the South African’s decision to heavily rotate his team for the trip to Northampton, but on the evidence of the performance today, spearheaded by the criminally underrated Miles Reid, this was by no means a ‘B team’.
The Saints were quickest out of the blocks as Smith tore through the visitors’ defence in the third minute, suggesting that the pre-match predictions might be right, but Bath were handed an early lifeline with Tom Litchfield sent to the sin-bin, and they landed their first counterpunch through Louie Hennessey with the conversion levelling the scores after 10 minutes.
Tommy Freeman and Ollie Sleightholme scored stylish tries to put Saints into a 14-point lead before Arthur Green pulled one back for the men in blue, black and white. Freeman grabbed another before the half-hour mark as the Saints took a 12-point buffer into the break.
The deficit threatened to undo Bath in the second half, but the defending champions did not fall into that trap with Tom Carr-Smith scoring shortening after the whistle to single the start of the second half with Sleightholme making it a 10-point game in Saints’ favour five minutes later.
Tom de Glanville delivered the next counterpunch for Bath, and Archie Griffin levelled the scores on the hour mark to set up an enthralling final quarter, which did not disappoint.
Freeman completed his hat-trick and looked to have sealed the victory, but with eight minutes left to play, there was plenty of time for more drama, and Kepu Tuipulotu was on hand to deliver it as he thundered over the line to make it all square again.
In the final five minutes of the match, possession, momentum, and territory traded hands with Saints getting the final attack and when Smith dropped into the pocket, he had a swarm of Bath players around him, and decided to dummy the drop goal before giving it a crack seconds later, but missed.
However, Luke Pearce had alerted his TMO Ian Tempest of a potential high tackle on the fly-half a few phases earlier, and after a review, Northampton were awarded the penalty, with Smith making no mistake from the tee.
Bath flex their depth
Van Graan is no stranger to rotating his Bath matchday 23s, but for the trip to Franklin’s Gardens, he was left with a bit of a dilemma. Does he back continuity or give the top dogs a week off with an eye on the trip to Bordeaux in the Investec Champions Cup next week? He opted for the latter, a decision that was pre-planned and paid off.
“We believe in open communication and the players know when they’ll play over the coming weeks,” he told Planet Rugby.
“If we win or lose, we plan for everything, and then even still, when rugby throws up scenarios we haven’t planned for, we adapt accordingly.
“For us, it’s a massive positive. I know there are questions on the outside about being in both competitions, but we want to play in as many games as possible; last year, we played in every playoff game possible. It’s great to be alive in the Champions Cup and within a shout of making the play-offs.”
Van Graan obviously wants to battle on both fronts and is well-placed to do so, as there was a small chance that they would give up their second-place ranking with a defeat to Northampton today.
However, De Glanville’s try nine minutes into the second half meant that even in defeat, Bath would end the weekend in the same position they started it.
No Finn Russell, no Santi Carreras, no Thomas du Toit, no Ollie Lawrence, no Ben Spencer, no Tom Dunn, and so on; no problem. This was very much a ‘B team’ that Van Graan named, but no one bothered telling the likes of Miles Reid, Will Butt, De Glanville, Josh Bayliss, Arthur Green, and co, who put in outstanding shifts to make this a true top-of-the-table clash.
It’s a testament to the structures and standards that Van Graan and his coaching team have instilled at Bath, as it’s a matter of next man up rather than an A or B team. The West Country outfit does have the luxury of an incredibly deep player pool to select from, but that is also the result of intelligent recruitment that has made them a club capable of fighting on two fronts, something very few teams can do.
Play the game Henry, not the ref
A poignant point was made by Austin Healy on commentary during the first half, with the ex-England international effectively stating that Heny Pollock needs to stop playing to the referee and play what is in front of him instead.
The remark was made after Pollock was not awarded a penalty after getting his mitts on the ball, and instead of lifting it, he turned to Luke Pearce, seemingly awaiting for his arm to shoot out in Northampton’s favour and provide permission for the number eight to collect possession. Ultimately, Pollock was cleared off the ball, and the Saints’ star got the benefit of neither.
After getting shunted to the ground by Bath winger Will Muir, Pollock also lay sprawled on the deck before receiving treatment, and after a TMO review, he again wasn’t rewarded, as Pearce was of the opinion that Muir’s actions were warranted and it was simply a rugby incident. At the ensuing scrum, the 21-year-old was still visibly annoyed as he packed down at the back of the set-piece.
Pollock is very clearly a talented loose forward, and he showed that in so many actions today, with some brilliant moments with the ball in hand, several sharp hits on defence, and some testing breakdown entries. But he showed that he still has room for growth.
As a back-rower who wants to have an impact at the breakdown, he needs to know when he should chance his arm and shouldn’t be relying on the referee’s permission; Richie McCaw, David Pocock, and Michael Hooper never did.
Big-name stars save the day for Northampton
This game screamed a draw for the better part of an hour as the understrength Bath team simply did not go away despite Saints’ ability to score tries at will, but it wasn’t and much of that is because of Northampton’s best and brightest who rose to the occasion.
Pollock, despite playing to the referee, was lively, excellent and came with his brilliance. He showed that when he played what was in front of him, taking a penalty quickly and kicking upfield with Josh Kemeny coming agonisingly close to scoring a try that could have taken a lot of win out of Bath’s sails.
Freeman quietly scored a hat-trick; the game was so helter-skelter that few would have even clicked that he grabbed three. He also pitched in with a try assist, made more metres than any other player (141), made beat a joint match-high of five defenders and claimed three line breaks.
Northampton’s glue-man in the backline, Fraser Dingwall, pitched in with two try assists and was a real attacking weapon throughout, while Sleightholme shone throughout, even if he was tracked down by the rapid Josh Bayliss.
Psychological victory for Bath
Still, this defeat was very much a win for Bath in the grander scheme of their double-title-winning charge this season. Not only will they have the psychological advantage over Northampton, considering just how close their ‘B team’ came to defeating the Saints on their own turf, but Van Graan was provided with several depth boosts today.
Ciaran Donoghue, who was fantastic, played a full 80 minutes in his first game back since sustaining an ACL injury in September. He has stiff competition to get back into the mix for the big match but on today’s evidence, he has given Van Graan a mighty headache going forward.
Bayliss again proved that he is not just an impact player while Dan Frost impressed in the absence of Dunn at hooker and Sam Underhill didn’t look off the pace for a second on his return to the 23.