Bath v Saints

By shendyNo Comments
See, I said I'd try and post more - and here I am back again in less than a week! Another Saints game, this time a midweek trip to Bath for a catch-up from a January postponement. Not good to have 3 games in a week at such a crucial stage of the season. Saints made 12 changes from Saturday's match, while Bath only made about 3. Saints had a number of top players on the bench, and they made a significant difference in the second half. Unfortunately Bath held out 21-20, but it was a very good performance from a bit of an ad-hoc Saints side. The light wasn't good at the Rec, so no particularly startling photos - I'll just post up the best one. The full set are on my website...
Read More

Saints v Gloucester

By shendyNo Comments
Is it really 3 months since I've posted on here? Oops. I've not really taken much other than rugby since then - and there's been nothing hugely exciting in those either. Anyway, a lovely sunny day on the terrace at Franklin's Gardens in Northampton as the Saints took on Gloucester in the Premiership. The two teams met recently in the LV= final - that was a cracking game, and so was this. And we won both of them! The pick pick of the pics: Stephen Myler gets an uncomfortable boot This one is more out of historical interest than because it's a particularly good photo - Phil Dowson is a back-row forward, not a hooker, so why is he throwing into the lineout? Dylan Hartley was in the sin bin, and there hadn't been a scrum so we hadn't brought on a front row replacement. Up steps Dowson, he throws to Juandre Kruger in the lineout and promptly joins the maul to get back on...
Read More

Northampton Saints v Perpignan

By shendyNo Comments
A Sunday afternoon match in the Heineken European Cup, and a must-win match for the Saints if they are to qualify for the knockout stages. Fortunately, Perpignan can't qualify and therefore sent a weakened team.It has to be said that the first half wasn't the greatest I've ever seen, ending a mere 6-0 to the Saints. I managed to get a couple of decent photos in the good light - one of the better lineout shots I've taken (Juandre Kruger), and one of the rare situations where one of the better best shots of the day is of the opposition!The second half was much better, with the Saints scoring 3 tries in the first 15 minutes. The first came from another dazzling break by Ben Foden, who shipped it on to the try scoring machine that is Chris Ashton. I managed to keep track of this one, leading to quite a good scoring shot.After the third try (which took place...
Read More

January Snow

By shendyNo Comments
I've been living in Bristol for more than 13 years now, and we've had negligible snowfall in most of that time - probably 2 snowy mornings - and I reckon the last decent snow I saw was probably in 1991. But in the last 12 months, we've had 4 decent snowfalls - 2 in Jan/Feb, one at the end of December and another one today. Being the inveterate snapper that I am (which you wouldn't guess from the amount I've posted to this blog, would you?), I've taken the opportunities to get out and take some photos. These are today's. The Downs A bicycle on Whiteladies Road Snowboarding on Brandon Hill St Mary Redcliffe The lump of metal in the foreground is a fairly famous piece of tram track that landed in the grounds during a German bombing raid in WW2...
Read More