EDF Energy Cup - : The charge continues for Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints in last season's EDF Energy Cup

The charge continues for Northampton Saints

20 February 2008, 2:59 pm

By Dan Pritchard

There are four cracking ties in this weekend's EDF Energy National Trophy with a humdinger of a local derby between Bedford and favourites Northampton Saints.

Unbeaten all season, it will be a mammoth task for anyone to taste victory over the Saints, who are surely heading straight back to the Guinness Premiership. But they are taking nothing for granted

Jim Mallinder, Northampton Saints director of rugby, said: “It is going to be a tough game. Bedford really had a go at us in our two league matches this season, especially at Goldington Road, and I’m expecting no different this time around. Local derbies always have that little bit extra and with it being a cup match I am sure it will be a special occasion.

“Bedford have a big and experienced set of forwards and some exciting backs and we will have to have full concentration for all of the 80 minutes. Having the match at Goldington Road will help them, particularly with how close the fans are to the pitch. It will make for an exciting atmosphere that everyone will remember for a long time.”

He added: “We are taking this competition very seriously. Every team and player wants to win silverware and we are no different, especially as the final is at Twickenham. But we are not looking any further ahead than this weekend and beating Bedford.”

Bedford Blues director of rugby Mike Rayer will be relying on luck and discipline for his side to produce an upset in front of a sell-out 4,600 crowd.

"Everyone would like to get to the final but there are worse draws that we could have had," said the former Wales full-back.

"We could have been given an away draw and not made any money out of it. Instead, we are at home in a local derby, we've got a full house, which means valuable income, and we are playing against a side with a lot of stars.

"It's a tough game for us, particularly as we will be without Brendan Burke and Nic Strauss because of injury. We can't just magic up some extra players so we just have to get on with it.

"If we are going to win we will have to be 100 per cent accurate in what we do. Against a full-time side like Northampton, we will have to make sure that we are right on top of our game.

"We will need to take our points and make sure that we don't turn over ball. If we do that against a side with the quality of player that Northampton have, then they will punish us.

"We are also going to need a bit of luck - well, quite a lot of luck - to beat them."

Meanwhile Exeter Chiefs, second behind Saints in National League One, are at home to Esher.

This time last season, Exeter Chiefs’ record points scoring fly-half Tony Yapp was in the midst of a purple patch for the club.

After a disappointing start to the 2006/07 league season, the Chiefs turned their year around with back-to-back wins that saw them eventually finish fourth in National League One and reach the EDF Energy National Trophy final against the Cornish Pirates. But the dream run came to an abrupt end.

Yapp recalls: “It was so disappointing. We had worked so hard all year after we had struggled at the start of the season. We had put a good run together in the second half of the year. And then in the final itself, we had been leading and then we just ran out of steam and Pirates came back stronger. If we had won, it would have been a reward for all the hard work we had done but it was not to be.”

So with the painful experience of last year’s final stored away in the memory bank, Yapp and his colleague will be hoping for better fortune this season. After securing wins over Wharfedale and Coventry in the first two rounds that National League One clubs are involved in, Chiefs now face Esher at Sandy Park to earn themselves a semi-final spot.

However, with former Heineken Cup champions Northampton Saints in the last eight, Yapp knows whoever wants to win this season’s EDF Energy National Trophy will have to do something extra special to put out the league’s unbeaten leaders.

Yapp said: “To be fair, Northampton have done it the hard way with Pirates away in the first round, then Doncaster away and then Bedford, so it will be full credit to them if they make the final. We all know that we will have to beat the best in the competition to get there and it will be a massive ask. But if we want to win this competition, that is what we will have to do.”

Elsewhere, Plymouth head coach Graham Dawe is hoping this weekend’s EDF Energy National Trophy quarter-final clash against Rotherham will give Albion the spark they need to re-ignite their season.

The Devon National Division One side are languishing in seventh place in the league and have not won a league game this year or a game on the road since November.

But Plymouth have enjoyed some good wins in the domestic cup, against the likes of the Henley Hawks and Pertemps Bees, and with an away clash against the Titans, Dawe believes this could be the game to get Albion back on track.

He said: “There’s no doubt this is going to be a very tough fixture and I wouldn’t actually tag either team as favourites. But we are going to Rotherham intent on getting a win and finding our spark again.

“We are putting a lot of effort into getting back on track and getting a win from this game and if we can do that then I think it could be onwards and upwards this season.”

Plymouth, who have reached the cup quarter-finals for the last three seasons, go into Saturday’s game on the back of a disappointing defeat to Coventry but they did pick up a convincing win against Rotherham at Brickfields in November, winning 15-0, and Dawe is hoping for more of the same.

He added: “We have had some very tough fixtures lately, playing a lot of sides that are either vying for promotion or survival and that has taken its toll on us. Rotherham, too, are a strong side and even stronger at home. It is always tough playing there with their vocal crowd.

“They play a very fast game, though, and that suits us. Hopefully we can turn them over and dominate like we did in our game against them previously. It’s certainly another tough challenge but we are feeling positive.”

In the other quarter-final tie, Nottingham entertain Launceston, who demolished Blackheath 61-15 in the last round.

Nottingham ground-share with Notts County FC at Meadow Lane and the Launceston quarter-final will provide the second leg of a double-header after County's league match against Bradford City.

EDF Energy National Trophy Quarter-Finals (to be played Feb 23)
Exeter v Esher
Rotherham v Plymouth Albion
Bedford v Northampton Saints
Nottingham v Launceston