A lack of discipline undermined any chance that the Roosters may have had in overcoming a physical and well drilled Northampton side on Saturday. The Casuals had clearly progressed a long was since their 2008 debut season which included an 11 try drubbing when they faced the Roosters at Somersham Road. Having recorded two impressive 70 point tallies in their opeining fixtures they were clearly going to provide a stern test for the Roosters
In spite of this the Roosters got the scoring underway with a short range try from Steve Baskerville although the conversion was pulled to the right. The Casuals were soon back on par however with a try on in the right corner although there was a strong suspicion of a knock on that went unnoticed by the referee. A few minutes later the Casuals went in front for the first time as Matthew Derry exploited further weakness on the St Ives left.
The Roosters were able to stem the tide for a while with some solid defence but then sloppy marking at the play the ball allowed Northampton easy yards and Kier Flatt stepped through the Roosters line to score under the posts.
As the half continued, there was little opportunity for the game to flow due to a succession of errors from both sides as well as a profusion of penalties from a fussy referee. The Roosters conjured a couple of opportunities but were undone by errors, most notably when a slick passing move out to the right wing ended with a spilled ball just a few metres from the line. The half ended with no further score at 4-14.
After the break the Roosters, now against the slope and the wind faded quickly. Defensive discipline evaporated and some of the players seemed keener on back chatting the referee than facing up to the opposition. The contest was effectively over in five minutes following a quick fire brace of tries from Stefan Fowler. A kick off sent out on the full worsened the Roosters plight and although they were able to regain some territory with a penalty of their own, it came to nothing when Northampton full back Mike Hulme evaded the defence a jogged in under the posts from 60metres.
Another kick off ploy failed as the ball did not reach the required 10 metres and this was followed by an unsavoury incident when following a high tackle from St Ives player a large scale fight broke out in which most of the players joined. At length this situation was resolved with one of the Northampton players put in the sin bin and Christopher Sykes of the Roosters sent from the field.
There remained time for Seb Ward and Oli Rees to add further tries taking the final score to 4-42.
Next Saturday (May 30) the Roosters travel to Bury St Edmonds, the new home of the Thetford Titans club who have relocated for 2009. To get anything from the game the Roosters will need a big improvement, not least in attitude and application to the matter in hand.