The back lineAh the panache the ?n the je ne sais quoi Not tonight, Fabien, not if Johno has anything to do with it, anyway.The back lineAh, the panache, the ?n, the je ne sais quoi. Why are all the best words for back play French? Think Twickenham, World Cup 1999, and Christophe Dominici shredding the All Blacks Give them an inch, and they'll take a kilometre. England possess the arch-pilferer, "Burglar" Ben Kay, and will also require Lawrence Dallaglio at the tail to nullify the elastically limbed Imanol Harinordoquy (right).The back rowThey are fit as a fitness adviser to a butcher's dog, but are England's Great Whites - Neil Back, Dallaglio and Richard Hill - getting long in the tooth? Can they still cut it against Serge Betsen, Olivier "Charle" Magne and Harinordoquy, a bespoke breakaway trio if ever there was one? Hill, the epitome of "doing your talking on the pitch", may have timed things to perfection with his four-week rest, or rather a hamstring injury, and England will need the grim-faced Saracen at his best to secure priceless possession at close quarters. "From the sublime to the ridiculous there is only one step," Napoleon said after the retreat from Moscow, so he obviously knew something about World Cup semi-finals. Two more pre-match rallying cries, scoop up that little gold pot and let's get the hell out of here. Put your mortgage on blood being spilt at the breakdown, and France to show a profit if Betsen emulates Roger Milla by dancing a Cameroonian World Cup jig all over Jonny Wilkinson.LeadershipTo the captains goes the ultimate glory - but also the responsibility when plans go awry Once more unto the breach, dear friends.. well, twice more, that's the target. The line-out
The line-out
There he is, the No 2, the happy-go-lucky hooker, paid good money to chuck an inanimate object in the vaguely accurate direction of the 6ft 7in monolith blotting out the sun (or floodlights) in front of him. Thompson and his French counterpart, Raphael Iba? are two of the more consistent practitioners, but throwing in is not such a doddle when you add in sweaty hands, 80,000 pairs of beady eyes staring at you and possibly a defensive line-out to see out the final seconds of the match. What can possibly go wrong? Amazingly, rather a lot, as England's Steve Thompson found out against Wales last week. All kick-off times here are UK time. Bath, who last won the Cup in 1996, are through to the quarter-finals for the first time in five years.Bath: M Perry (P Sampson, 71); W Human, R Kydd, A Higgins, J Williams (S Danielli, 29); O Barkley, M Wood (H Martens, 71); D Flatman, J Humphreys (capt, L Mears, 62), D Bell (M Stevens, 62), S Borthwick, R Fidler, A Beattie, I Feaunati (S Gray, 71), M Lipman (J Scaysbrook, 68).Northampton: N Beal; J Brooks, C Hyndman, J Leslie (co-capt), B Reihana; S Drahm (J Sleightholme, 71), J Howard (B Jones, 76); R Morris (B Sturgess, 49-71), D Richmond (M Miles, 68), C Budgen (B Sturgess, 3-6), M Lord (G Seely, 59), R Hunter (J Phillips, 62), M Connors, A Blowers (co-capt), D Fox.Referee: A Rowden (Reading)..
They won a line-out and the ball flew out flat and fast to Barkley, who popped up a pass for the centre Robbie Kydd. The 21-year-old Australian muscled his way through a couple of attempted tackles to dive over.Simon Danielli, back from World Cup duty with Scotland, went into the sin-bin, but Saints failed to take advantage of the extra man and shortly after Danielli's return the disappointingly modest crowd of 5,723 saw Zak Feaunati, James Scaysbrook and finally Danielli himself cross in rapid succession to complete the rout. Reihana kicked ahead and Martyn Wood fell on the ball on the line, only for it to squirt out cruelly Reihana, following up, had the simplest of touchdowns Two minutes later Bath cancelled it out. The Blue Bulls flier tore up the middle unmolested for 45 metres and presented Olly Barkley with a simple conversion.Saints, for whom Shane Drahm had landed a couple of penalties, came out firing after the interval. At least then the players would be allowed to carry on, and the referee would have satisfied himself by sounding off, soundlessly.Bath were the chief transgressors, although both sides had a man in the sin-bin before the first half was out, but by then Bath had scored an all-important first try when Wylie Human, their right- winger, latched on to a Nick Beal pass intended for Bruce Reihana. Saints, the last side to win here, in March, were in the game for more than an hour, getting into great positions and creating chances enough to steal it, but then Bath turned it on and ran away with it.The first half in particular was a stop-start affair and, judging by the irritating number of times the whistle sounded - generally when something interesting was boiling up for one team or the other - there might well be a case for issuing referees with a silent version, the sort used by dog owners. |
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