Northampton vs Bulls 2s - Sat 8pm

[Puja]

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs VODACOM BULLS
Investec Champions Cup, Quarter-Final
Saturday 13 April, 2024
cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 8pm

15 James Ramm
14 George Hendy
13 Tommy Freeman
12 Fraser Dingwall
11 Ollie Sleightholme
10 Fin Smith
9 Alex Mitchell

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Trevor Davison
4 Alex Moon
5 Alex Coles
6 Courtney Lawes (c)
7 Sam Graham
8 Juarno Augustus

Replacements:
16 Sam Matavesi
17 Alex Waller
18 Paul Hill
19 Temo Mayanavanua
20 Angus Scott-Young
21 Lewis Ludlam
22 Tom James
23 George Furbank



Bulls team:

15 Devon Williams, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 Henry Immelman, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Zak Burger, 8 Cameron Hanekom, 7 Mpilo Gumede, 6 Nizaam Carr (captain), 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Janko Swanepoel, 3 Mornay Smith, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Simphiwe Matanzima

Substitutes: 16 Jan-Hendrik Wessels, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Francois Klopper, 19 Merwe Olivier, 20 Reinhardt Ludwig, 21 Kaegan Johannes, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Cornal Hendricks

[Puja]

Unsurprising, but underwhelming - Bulls leave 14 of their regular XXIII back in South Africa to prepare for URC games. What a colossal cock-up.

Banana skin for Saints though - they need shooting if they fail to win, but it's easily enough done if they go in with the wrong attitude.

Puja

[Banquo]

Odendaal and Hutchinson must be injured. Big test for Tommy, and if Furbank is fit,odd having Ramm at 15 where he is not convincing positionally.

[Banquo]

Unsurprising, but underwhelming - Bulls leave 14 of their regular XXIII back in South Africa to prepare for URC games. What a colossal cock-up.

Banana skin for Saints though - they need shooting if they fail to win, but it's easily enough done if they go in with the wrong attitude.

Puja

mad, whats the point of them entering if they don't really want to win

[Mikey Brown]

I don't understand how this happens. Have they been putting out full strength teams for qualifying games? It seems insane that people have fought for their inclusion in this competition for them to then be so indifferent to making a quarter-final.

Cool to get another look at Freeman at 13 I suppose.

Is Ludlam genuinely not worth his starting spot anymore?

[Adam_P]

I don't understand how this happens. Have they been putting out full strength teams for qualifying games? It seems insane that people have fought for their inclusion in this competition for them to then be so indifferent to making a quarter-final.

Cool to get another look at Freeman at 13 I suppose.

Is Ludlam genuinely not worth his starting spot anymore?

Pretty sure they were full strength or close to it for their round of 16 knock out last weekend. Very odd.

I can only assume we've gone for the biggest/most solid back row in anticipation of a heavy SA pack - hence the unusual selection of Graham at 7. We're going to be very reliant on Lawes for turnovers - at least Sleightholme can help!

[Adam_P]

Odendaal and Hutchinson must be injured. Big test for Tommy, and if Furbank is fit,odd having Ramm at 15 where he is not convincing positionally.

Odendaal did a hamstring last weekend, think Hutch is fit. This is Furbank's first game returning from injury so I can understand him being on the bench. I thought Ramm was excellent last weekend, after being caught out a bit under high balls in the previous few games.

[Mellsblue]

Bulls flying over via eight flights, allegedly. Not sure of the exact logistics - I know some flights involve internal transfers in SA and go via the Middle East - but it’s madness.

[FKAS]

Bulls flying over via eight flights, allegedly. Not sure of the exact logistics - I know some flights involve internal transfers in SA and go via the Middle East - but it’s madness.

Because they wanted to send everyone business class and didn't know the destination until after the Saints game last weekend.

[Banquo]

Odendaal and Hutchinson must be injured. Big test for Tommy, and if Furbank is fit,odd having Ramm at 15 where he is not convincing positionally.

Odendaal did a hamstring last weekend, think Hutch is fit. This is Furbank's first game returning from injury so I can understand him being on the bench. I thought Ramm was excellent last weekend, after being caught out a bit under high balls in the previous few games.

He was still shaky last week imo, he just looks unsure back there for me. Odd if Hutch is fit- he can’t be that much out of favour. Then again Hendy was Handy and can’t drop Tommy

[Banquo]

Bulls flying over via eight flights, allegedly. Not sure of the exact logistics - I know some flights involve internal transfers in SA and go via the Middle East - but it’s madness.

Because they wanted to send everyone business class and didn't know the destination until after the Saints game last weekend.

Cripplingly stupid all round

[Mellsblue]

Bulls flying over via eight flights, allegedly. Not sure of the exact logistics - I know some flights involve internal transfers in SA and go via the Middle East - but it’s madness.

Because they wanted to send everyone business class and didn't know the destination until after the Saints game last weekend.

I understand why. I didn’t think they chose this over sending them all together. It’s been an issue for them since day one of joining the URC. This one just seemed particularly mad.

[francoisfou]

Bulls flying over via eight flights, allegedly. Not sure of the exact logistics - I know some flights involve internal transfers in SA and go via the Middle East - but it’s madness.

Because they wanted to send everyone business class and didn't know the destination until after the Saints game last weekend.

I understand why. I didn’t think they chose this over sending them all together. It’s been an issue for them since day one of joining the URC. This one just seemed particularly mad.

If Saints are on song then Bulls'll hopefully be on the receiving end of a spanking and send a loud message to EPCR that it wasn't a particularly good idea to invite the Saffers to participate in the European Champions' Cup.

[Spiffy]

Odendaal and Hutchinson must be injured. Big test for Tommy, and if Furbank is fit,odd having Ramm at 15 where he is not convincing positionally.

I think Freeman will be fine at 13 (possibly his long term position), he's looked good running in the midfield; and it's hard to leave out Ramm after his performance last week.
That is a pacy set of Saints backs.
The Bulls reserves should be duly humped.

[Banquo]

Odendaal and Hutchinson must be injured. Big test for Tommy, and if Furbank is fit,odd having Ramm at 15 where he is not convincing positionally.

I think Freeman will be fine at 13 (possibly his long term position), he's looked good running in the midfield; and it's hard to leave out Ramm after his performance last week.
That is a pacy set of Saints backs.
The Bulls reserves should be duly humped.

He's done well at 13, and this isnt the test I thought, be good to see his defence tested; very well balanced and skilled 10/12/13.

Ramm looked very uncomfortable at 15 v Sarries, drops and chargedowns...decent ball in hand and better v Munster, but looked shaky still. All of Hendy, Freeman and Furbank are imo better 15s

[fivepointer]

Really poor from Bulls to put out a weakened side. I appreciate the logistics are horrendous but its a QF for goodness sake.

Saints will look to move up a notch from last week. Another chance for Langdon to impress and for Freeman to show he can offer versatility in the national squad.

[R3dders]

Apparently they don't take any money for the first 2 years? Hopefully they will take it more seriously next year, or gtfo

[Adam_P]

Couldn't see a thing wrong with Davisons jackal there

[Adam_P]

I don't understand how this happens. Have they been putting out full strength teams for qualifying games? It seems insane that people have fought for their inclusion in this competition for them to then be so indifferent to making a quarter-final.

Cool to get another look at Freeman at 13 I suppose.

Is Ludlam genuinely not worth his starting spot anymore?

We're going to be very reliant on Lawes for turnovers - at least Sleightholme can help!

Didn't take Ollie long to get a quality turnover, quickly followed by another unbelievably strong finish he had no right to score

[FKAS]

Saints have been awful at executing their exits. It's very sloppy.

[FKAS]

Ah that's unlucky for Saints. Dingwall hesitates and then it's a great tackle from which he can't offload. Mitchell throws the interception and it's game back on.

[Adam_P]

Has a team scored 9 tries in a Champions/Heineken Cup quarter final before?

[Puja]

An embarrassment for the competition, although a nice bye for Saints. If they'd been on top form, then it could easily have been 80 points, but they understandable got very loose and lackadaisical at times, leaning into a Barbarians feel of there being very little actual jeopardy and making silly errors like charge-downs, over-optimistic passes, and not clearing their lines.

I'd like to take a moment to note that Saints had 13 English players starting (technically, I guess Ramm is qualified too, but let's not), most of them brought through their own academy. And it is quality as well - I'd be very happy seeing that backline with Furbank for Ramm in the touring squad in the summer. Credit where credit's due - they're doing a belting job.

Puja