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Northampton Saints academy poach two Gloucester Rugby products

JJ Tonks

Northampton Saints have poached two promising Gloucester Rugby products.

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JJ Tonks and Tommy Mathews have both joined Northampton Saints’ Senior Academy ahead of the 2019/20 season, the club have confirmed.

The pair both rose through the ranks at Gloucester Rugby but have now made the switch to Franklin’s Gardens and joined up with Chris Boyd’s squad as they began their preseason preparations earlier this month.

Tonks, 19, linked up with the Cherry & Whites at just 12 years old. The back-row forward has international recognition to his name after representing England 7s at the 2017 Commonwealth Youth Games – collecting a silver medal alongside future Saints teammate Ollie Sleightholme.

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Tonks also turned out for England Under-18s in 2018 before enjoying a stint in New Zealand training with the Otago Mitre 10 Cup team, playing for the region’s Under-18 and Under-19 sides in the process.

Meanwhile 18-year-old fly-half Mathews was first picked up by London Irish before moving to Hartpury College and catching the attention of Gloucester.

The talented goal-kicker featured in both the 2018 and 2019 Premiership Rugby Under-18s Academy League Finals, as well as pulling on a Wales Under-18s jersey for the Six Nations championship earlier this year.

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“Both of these young guys have arrived at the Club, got stuck in, and impressed us with their commitment so far in preseason training,” said Saints academy manager Mark Hopley.

“JJ and Tommy are both keen to learn and have some superb role models ahead of them in the pecking order at Franklin’s Gardens – to be able to pick the brains of the likes of Tom Wood and Dan Biggar in their positions is invaluable at their age.

“We showed last season that young players will get opportunities as the season wears on and so we don’t expect JJ and Tommy just to make up the numbers.

“We’re very proud of the quality of our Senior Academy players and we expect these two to contribute on the field too. They’ve both played international age-group rugby so the talent is certainly there and I’m excited to see what they can accomplish this season.”

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IkeaBoy 53 minutes ago
Crusaders outlast fast starting Blues to reach another Super Rugby final

Very considered stuff, JW!


What I think is slippery is that they are essentially red carding based on ‘intent’ which was never really the case. It’s a tough ask to expect a ref to essentially physiologically profile a player, in-game. It should be a minimum at any level of rugby that a player wouldn’t deliberately be reckless or aim for a high degree of danger. Even with the guidance it’s still very subjective for refs. I’m not even sure if a full red has been dished out at test level since the new 20 min card arrived? It looks like they’ve forgotten they can still dish out a straight red.


WR are focused on sanctioning the dangerous act and dealing with it rather than working on removing the act itself. The big task is to remove the risky play rather than being consistent on carding it. It’s probably a coaching issue really and would take a while to bed in and have to work up from the age groups who are starting the game now.


Aki was a great example though. Short and stocky for a centre but he used to tackle high. He got red carded twice for Ireland but worked on it and I don’t think he’s had a problem since. Club or test level.


I agree with the ABs last couple of seasons. I don’t think they tackled any better or worse they just maybe didn’t keep up to speed with the law changes. I remember with Fozzie in the 2022 series, he didn’t even realise that hooking big Ardie in the second test would be a permanent change!


Verdict is still out on the 20 min reds but maybe it takes the next RWC to see if they are used or abused.

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