Northampton face fight to keep 'clutch player' Anthony Belleau

Northampton Saints boss Phil Dowson is gearing up for a battle to keep former France fly-half Anthony Belleau at Franklin’s Gardens when his contract runs out at the end of the season.

Belleau, 29, has made a massive impact since arriving in the East Midlands this summer on a one-year contract after spending almost a decade in the Top 14 with Toulon and Clermont Auvergne.

He has played five games for the Saints and scored two tries against Leicester Tigers, and has the potential to be the most impactful French fly-half in the Gallagher PREM since Ludovic Mercier.

Saints may need to work hard to keep him; however, his CV is circulating among Top 14 clubs as his agents try to drum up interest for a return to his homeland next season.

Belleau, who won the last of 12 French caps with a five-minute cameo against Ireland in March 2019, is one of the names Montpellier are looking at, according to reports across the channel.

Speaking about the impact he’s made, Dowson said: “He is a very highly skilled player with caps for France. The conversations we had with him before we signed him, he came across well. He was cracking jokes in English, which gave us an understanding of how good his English is.

“I wasn’t massively surprised because we were recruiting someone of high quality, and we were recruiting someone who clearly had good characteristics which we liked.

“He has been excellent. His application and attitude, the fact that he was happy to leave France and try another environment and do it in a second language and bring his fiancée over.

“The way he has integrated and how popular he is with the players is fantastic. I think we have seen on the field what he is capable of. Out of position as well and in clutch moments.

“There is quite a long list of people we are trying to resign, and we are currently working through that. And he is one of those guys that we would love to keep because of the impact that he has had here.”