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'That is a pretty poor statement' - Ex-French hooker Kayser slams Saints boss over pre-Leinster selection comments
By Ian Cameron
Former French international Benjamin Kayser has criticised Northampton Saints boss Chris Boyd after he suggested he would field a weakened team against Leinster in their Round 2 Heineken Champions Cup fixture next week.
Boyd's Saints side lost 16 - 12 in a narrow defeat to Bordeaux Begles at Franklin’s Gardens thanks to a late Santiago Cordero try, which means the Green and Blacks face an uphill battle to make it out of their pool in what is an unforgiving new tournament structure.
It was Saints’ 16th loss in their last 18 matches and their 11th on the trot. Boyd's reaction after the match suggested that the New Zealander isn't too keen on expending senior player resources against the might of Leinster.
“With the new format of this competition, you have to win at least three of your four games to qualify so it is now extremely difficult," said Boyd. “We are not refocusing on the Premiership just yet but we will be resting some of our players next weekend and giving some of the youngsters a go.”
Boyd also said that his side were finding 'new ways to lose'.
To field a weakened team against tournament favorites Leinster is, to all intents and purposes, to admit defeat before a whistle is blown.
Appearing on BT Sport as a pundit, former France, Leicester Tigers and Clermont hooker Benjamin Kayser took exception to his comments.
"For one, it's pretty sad to see that after round one he's basically decided to give up on it," Kayser said. "I think that is a pretty poor statement."
Northampton Saints could find themselves in trouble with EPCR if they do field a weakened team and Leinster put up a cricket score. In 2004, Bourgoin were fined by the then ERC after they fielded a weakened team against Leinster that received a 92 - 17 hammering.
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Latest Comments
Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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