Fin(n) who?
If that had been Antoine Dupont pulling the strings, YouTube would have been awash with self-proclaimed experts banging on about it endlessly. (I’m not dissing Dupont, by the way. I’m genuinely peeved that I’m not going to get to watch him play in a couple of weeks when we go to Toulouse.)
As it was, we watched in modest supplication as Fordy continued from where he left off with England with a masterclass of control and game management. The guy is sheer class, and we are extremely fortunate to have him.
Before we get on to this game, can we just pause to appreciate the lads who played in the Six Nations?
WillGriff started well, blotted his copybook a bit with a silly yellow and had a bit of a torrid time against Genge. Overall, though, I thought he acquitted himself well and showed that he’s no makeweight in the team. An admittedly awful team, but we know his worth, and now, so do many others.
Dickie had a solid tournament: early lineout problems looked to me to be more of a team understanding issue than a darts failure.
Ford, as I mentioned above, produced a masterclass of a cameo that should – with luck – shut up the morons who were on his back after the autumn internationals. For a while, at least… I wouldn’t be surprised to see him in the Lions squad: Russell, one of the Smiths (probably Marcus this time, Fin next) and Fordy as the fly halves.
I called it: when Lawrence was confirmed as out of the Wales game, my first thought was “Freeman to centre, Roebuck on the wing”. Nice to know that Borthwick listens to me. I will admit, though, while I was watching FC against Dings earlier, my only hope was that he had a decent game. (I was also half convinced that Wales were going to turn it on like they often do against England. Glad to be over-pessimistic in both regards.) As it happened, Buck had a cracker of a game, dragging Murray a good seven metres for his try. It can be difficult to tell Buck and Freeman apart most of the time. I wonder if they’re twins who were separated at birth…
Speaking of twins (see what I did, there?), there are no superlatives adequate, are there?
I honestly think that the player of the tournament should have been shared between Tom and Le Beep-Beep. For a guy who’d been written off by the aforementioned morons six months ago, Tom produced a genuinely world-class performance over all five games. He’s back, baby!
And then there’s Ben. If there was an award for actual performance versus initial expectation, then Ben was light-years ahead of everyone else. Of course, we knew: we were the ones who couldn’t understand how he was apparently punished for being the only substitute who made an impact against New Zealand. Five breakdown steals (that one against Wales: like scooping the seeds from a melon…), being a constant pain in the bum to the opposition… Curry + Curry = Curry2.
Right, where was I?
Oh, yes. Friday night in Newcastle. As with Wales against England, so with Newcastle against Sale: I still carry the scars of that game a few seasons back where we squandered a healthy lead in the second half. So, yeah, nervous about the potential banana skin, but secretly hoping for a similar actuality.
It was a slightly cagey opening ten minutes: just a Ford penalty separating the sides. But then we got the rare sight of Gus sniping down the side of a ruck, then a nice break by Buck in a similar area before Rob passed the ball to Bevan “Prop? Centre? It’s all the same to me” Rodd, who ran pretty much unopposed in to score the first try.
I could just hear Joyce Grenfell in the background, singing, “Stately as a galleon”…
Newcastle pushed back in turn and ten minutes later, Sale old boy Cam Neild scored from a maul through a worryingly large gap in the defence. I suspect Horse will have a thing or two to say about that.
Sale nearly struck back immediately but Ricky’s try was pulled back for a barely noticeable knock-on at the start of the move. I’m ambivalent about this: I know from being told that this sort of finicky nitpicking can put people off of watching the game, but, well, rules is rules[^1]. Maybe a “material effect” test could be implemented, but that just adds another thing that the referee has to have an opinion about.
A few minutes after that, though, Buck did his “Moses parting the defence” thing again and chicken-winged it to Carps, who passed it on to Rob who had an uninterrupted stroll in under the posts. (Unopposed, uninterrupted: are you seeing a theme here?) You won’t see a more ineffectual bit of defending in— actually, less than twenty-four hours: q.v. about a dozen examples in the Bristol-Exeter game.
But we weren’t done yet. Given a very late penalty, we could have easily run out the clock and gone in with a useful ten-point lead. But no, like England at the death the week before, the decision was to go for it. And it came off as O’Flats went in for Sale’s third and a seventeen-point lead at the half.
Second halves frequently have fewer incidents and less scoring than first halves, and this was no exception. Ten minutes in, Tadgh got the bonus-point try, and Fordy kicked a conversion from six inches in from the touchline to take the game beyond the reach of Newcastle. They had been pretty toothless for fifty minutes; it was unlikely they’d stage a dramatic comeback over the last thirty.
Remember that game from a few years ago, though…
But that was a Falcon of a different colour: this team is in serious need of a couple of years of Dimes magic and a serious injection of cash. The magic is a given, the cash less so.
Twenty minutes of not very much passed – apart from a (harsh, I thought) yellow card for SiMac.
And then, there we were, down to fourteen but pressing the Falcons’ line. GusNye was buried under a pile of bodies, so Fordy steps up to play scrum-half…
And then it happened. A glance up, a millimetre-perfect kick, a charging Carps and a try that deserves to be played to every moron who thinks that Fordy has lost it..
Sublime. Utterly sublime. As I said, if that had been Dupont, there would have been a dozen YouTube “experts” wetting themselves over it within the hour.
Newcastle pulled one back on the stroke of full time – a deserved reward for some late industry. A pity they couldn’t start that well and keep it going.
To quote an old cliché: Form is temporary, class is permanent. Here we had – tucked away on a basement channel in a filing cabinet marked “beware of the tiger” – a prime example of a master puppeteer at work. It makes me wonder if that knee injury he’s been carrying most of the season had more effect than it seemed. A few weeks’ rest under the care of the England physios, and we get the real deal back.
Who else impressed?
Well, no one played badly, but I’m going to mention Ricky Ma’asi-White as one who looks to have found a bit of confidence in himself, helped in no small part by playing alongside a fly-half looking to bring out the best in those around him. Ricky made some good breaks, had a strong defence and deserved the try that was denied him.
If Carps hasn’t played himself onto the plane to Argentina, then there’s no justice in the world. It took as much skill to latch on to that Ford kick as it did for Ford to put it up there. Add to that commanding under the high ball and instigating several counter-attacks, and it looks like we’ve got the old Joe in full flow again.
And others, briefly: Ben Curry playing like a man-of-the-match performance against Wales last week was no biggie, Roebuck playing with even more confidence, and Tadgh was immaculate at the lineout. Everyone. Everyone contributed their part to the win.
So, we’re sixth, three points off fourth. Six games to go: three home, three away. It’s going to take a monumental effort like last year’s to get to the playoffs, but we have to believe we can do it, starting with Northampton at home.
I’m not sure why they’re struggling this year, but they are, and we need to take advantage of that. They’ll be smarting from being nilled at home, and we need to be wary of a wounded Saint, but I think we have the wherewithal to get the win we need.
I’m hoping that, having only played twenty minutes, Ford doesn’t need to stand down but expect Ben to give way to Tom for this one and the return of Dickie. Does Roebuck have to have a rest? If he does, do you rest him against Saints or Toulouse?
I’d expect to see much the same team, barring enforced stand-downs, possibly with Reed to start, especially if Buck is rested.
SAMP™ has us winning fairly comfortably, 22-16 on the ten-year average, 27-15 on the five-year.
Now, as long as I can still find my way to the AJ BellSalford Community Stadium after so long away…
[^1]: From Collins dictionary: law: a rule or body of rules…
an old grey dog 