Juandre Kruger on the charge, Northampton Saints vs Newcastle Falcons, February 2010
And so it was back to the Guinness Premiership as the Saints met the only team to beat them at home last season – Newcastle Falcons. The Falcons have a big pack, led by the man mountain that is Carl Hayman. He is huge – very tall and very broad in the shoulder. Packing down with him must be a nightmare! I was really looking forward to the battle of the front rows – it was the best set of scrums I have seen all season. The two packs wanted to fight it fair and square and it turned into a great battle with Messrs Sharman, Mujati and Tonga’uiha winning it. Yet in the rolling maul it was the Falcons that came out the winners (though referee Dean Richards needs to learn to count) – time and time again the Falcons drove the Saints backs down the pitch. But if I were a Falcons back, I would be bored stiff as they rarely saw the ball and when they did they did nothing with it. Saints on the otherhand were effective if not devastating – Chris Ashton again showed why many believe he is the best wing in the country. Two lovely tries scored by a player who reads the game so well and can finish when he gets the ball.
I had fun because it was the first time for a while I could use the 80-400mm lens – it did a good job despite not being the quickest focusing lens I own. The light was very flat and the pitch not at it’s best having been covered much of the week before. So the images has a grey wintry cast about them. But I did get a good selection of images and it’s grand being able to shoot with the big lens again.
Today it’s off to the Twickenham Stoop and a big game against Quins. Last year, I froze pitchside as all the action was at the other end of the ground. Saints played really badly and I was reduced to taking landscape shots. I don’t see that happening today – the team is very focused and this weekend could see Saints secure one of the precious top two spots in the Guinness Premiership. The weather looks great so I’ll be shooting with the 80-400mm again.
Enjoy the game!
Last year’s game was one of my worst experiences with Saints – and they have all been in that little corner of Surrey known as Twickenham!
The only Twickenham trip I missed was the one I would love to have enjoyed: in 2000 against Munster, Saints 9 Munster 8.
But I was thousands of miles away, working in Vancouver and fast asleep when the game was played.
Bring back some good shots of a famous win today – please!
No problem – photos will be up tomorrow as usual. I actually have a reasonable track record at the Stoop as I have seen Saints win there many times.
It’s a lovely sunny day too!