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Harry Mallinder among a quartet to extend their Northampton deals
Northampton’s Harry Mallinder, Tom Collins, Paul Hill and Ahsee Tuala have all signed new deals to remain at Franklin’s Gardens.
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The quartet boast just under 400 appearances and 25 seasons at the club between them, and director of rugby Chris Boyd is delighted to have secured their services for the foreseeable future.
“We’re absolutely delighted to sign these boys on,” he said. “They’re four Saintsmen who’ve been here for a long time and are all an important part of the fabric of our organisation.
“They’ve all played a good chunk for us, but a few of them are still young too and they’re all important cogs in our machine.
“We’re not completely finished in terms of our recruitment and retention, but we’re getting very close to getting the balance we want.”
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The Rugby Pod rounds up all the Guinness Six Nations and Gallagher Premiership action
HARRY MALLINDER – #1950, Fullback, 74 Saints appearances
A former ballboy at Franklin’s Gardens and Saints academy product, he made his club debut in 2014 but really broke through between 2016 and 2018 where he became a fixture in the first team and earned a call-up to Eddie Jones’ England squad.
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The versatile 23-year-old – who also previously captained England U18s and U20s – is equally comfortable at centre and fly-half, and is now back in first-team contention after missing most of the 2018/19 season through a serious knee injury.
“The club was good to Harry over the last 18 months and he’s been good to the club too,” said Boyd. “He’s done a lot of work for the Saints Foundation so he’s deeply entrenched in the fabric of Northampton Saints. This is home for Harry and we’re really pleased he’s staying on.”
?? We’re delighted to today confirm new contracts for four first team regulars at the Gardens.@a_tuala23, @paulhill101, @HarryMal10 & @ThomasCollins13 boast almost 400 Club caps combined.
— Northampton Saints ? (@SaintsRugby) February 26, 2020
TOM COLLINS – #1927, Wing, 92 Saints appearances
The Northampton-born 25-year-old has been a fixture on the wing for Saints since Chris Boyd’s arrival and is set to bring up a century of appearances this season.
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The fleet-footed speedster has notched up 29 Saints tries, 16 of which have come in the last 18 months, and Collins was the club’s second-highest try-scorer last season.
After representing England at U19 and U20 level, initially broke into the Northampton team during the 2013/14 season and was named the LV= breakthrough player of the season for his standout performances the following campaign.
Boyd said: “He brings that little bit of X-factor. When you look at our highlights packages, you see how many times Tommy Collins is involved in those moments. When he’s hot, he’s very hot, and he’s a really valuable member of this team.”
PAUL HILL – #1959, Prop, 104 Saints appearances
Tighthead prop Hill arrived in Northampton from Yorkshire Carnegie back in 2015, immediately catching the eye of Eddie Jones and winning five caps for England in 2016.
Prior to his first Test cap, Hill had represented his country at U17s, U18s, U19s and U20s level – taking part in two Junior World Championship finals, including the 21-20 win over South Africa in 2014.
The 24-year-old enjoyed his most successful Saints season last term, making more starts than ever before and lifting the Premiership Rugby Cup before claiming his 100th club cap in December against Leinster in Dublin.
“I’m really pleased for him,” said Boyd. “He’s worked really hard to become an important part of our machine. He’s got a big future ahead of him and I’d like to see him stay at Saints for the next seven or eight years. If he does I can see him being both highly capped for the club and going on to play for England again.”
“If Bath’s acquisition of Redpath proves to be as successful as Saracens’ buy-out signing of Mako Vunipola, the chances of this sort of move happening more often in the future are only going to increase,” writes @alexshawsporthttps://t.co/KHIWKrgxJ8
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 25, 2020
AHSEE TUALA – #1956, Fullback, 113 Saints appearances
Tuala became a Saint back in 2015, joining the club initially as injury cover before impressing the Franklin’s Gardens faithful with a stint in the No15 jersey and making his deal permanent that summer.
The 30-year-old Samoa international scored the winning try in the 2017 European Champions Cup play-off final against Stade Francais, securing top-tier European rugby for the 2017/18 season in a fine finish to the campaign.
Tuala received the Saints’ Supporters breakthrough player of the year award for his performances that term and featured heavily the following two years with 55 appearances in all competitions and 14 tries.
Boyd added: “Ace brings a lot of colour to our environment. He is highly skilful, brings a good, calming influence on the team, and he’s a good man to have on and off the field.”
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Comments on RugbyPass
Good to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
16 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
7 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
16 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
4 Go to commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
4 Go to commentsAI is only as good as the information put in, the nuances of the sport, what you see out the corner of the eye, how you sum up in a split second the situation, yes the AI is a tool but will not help win games, more likely contribute to a loss, Rugby Players are not robots, all AI can do if offer a solution not the solution. AI will effect many sports, help train better golfers etc.
45 Go to commentsIt couldn’t have been Ryan Crotty. He wasn’t selected in either World Cup side - they chose Money Bill instead. And Money Bill only cared about himself, and that manager he had, not the team.
26 Go to commentsYawn 🥱 nobody would give a hoot about this new trophy. End of the day we just have to beat Ireland and NZ this year then they can finally shut up 🤐
16 Go to commentsTalking bout Ryan Crotty? Heard Crotty say in a interview once that SBW doesen't care about the team . He went on to say that whenever they lost a big game, SBW would be happy as if nothing happened, according to him someone who cares would look down.. Personally I think Crotty is in the wrong, not for feeling gutted but for expecting others 2 be like him… I have been a bad loser forever as it matters so much to me but good on you SBW for being able to see the bigger picture….
26 Go to commentsThis sounds like a WWE idea so Americans can also get excited about rugby, RUGBY NEEDS A INTERNATIONAL CALENDER .. The rugby Championship and Six Nations can be held at same time, top 3 of six nations and top 3 of Rugby championship (6 nations should include Georgia AND another qualifying country while Fiji, Japan and Samoa/Tonga qualifier should make out 6 Southern teams).. Scrap June internationals and year end tours. Have a Elite top six Cup and the Bottom 6 in a secondary comp….
16 Go to commentsThe rugby championship would be even stronger with Fiji in it… I know it doesen’t fit the long term plans of NZ or Aus but you are robbing a whole nation of being able to see their best players play for Fiji…. Every second player in NZ and AUS teams has Fijian surnames… shame on you!!! World rugby won’t step in either as France and England has now also joined in…. I guess where money is involved it will always be the poor countries missing out….
84 Go to commentsNo surprise there. How hard can it be to pick a ball off the ground and chuck it to a mate? 😂
2 Go to commentsSometimes people just like a moan mate!
4 Go to commentsexcellent idea ! rugby needs this 💪
16 Go to comments9 Brumbies! What a joke! The best performing team in Oz! Ditch Skelton for Swain or Neville. Ryan Lonergan ahead of McDermott any day! Best selection bolter is Toole … amazing player
14 Go to commentsI like this, but ultimately rugby already has enough trophies. Trying to make more games “consequential" might prove to be a fools errand, although this is a less bad idea than some others. Minor quibble with the title of the article; it isn’t very meaningful to say the boks are the unofficial world champions when it would be functionally impossible for the Raeburn trophy not to be held by the world champions. There’s a period of a few months every 4 years when there is no “unofficial” world champion, and the Raeburn trophy is held by the actual world champions.
16 Go to comments