Roger Wilson on the charge, Northampton Saints vs Harlequins, November 2009
And so the Saints marched on beating a Quins team that came to the Gardens to play rugby – it was a good competitive match with flowing moves from both sides. The aerial ping pong that the press has got so over-excited about was noticeable by its absence as both teams ran the ball hard at each other. I love how Saints’ forwards and backs interchange so easily – our forwards ability to keep the ball alive and moving quickly is a delight. No player illustrates this better than anybody than Soane Tonga’uiha. His bullocking charge and pass to out Kruger away was glorious. And the big man repeated it a week later at Kingston Park when Chris Ashton was beneficiary. My joy was that I captured the moment though I did fill the D3′s buffer for the first time this season. The following week, Saints made the long trip to Kingston Park to play the Newcastle Falcons – to win in the style they did was mightily impressive. Euan Murray clearly made his presence felt when he came on in the second half. I am delighted for the hat-trick scoring Chris Ashton – he is rewarding his coaches for their patience last season.
The long nights of winter are drawing in so taking action photos is becoming a real challenge. The 80-400mm lens will be in the bag for some time to come as the light is just too poor for an f5.6 lens. Still the 70-200mm is a great lens if a bit short – I am still dreaming about that 400mm lens I used at the Munster game.
Tomorrow it’s Bath and we’re all hoping for a better result than the draw we achieved last season – please hope the referee gets into the right position this time when a ‘try’ is scored. I’ll be in the red hat pitchside wearing the thermals as I think it’s going to be a cold one!
