Northampton Saints: No room at the inn
Chris Boyd and Northampton Saints made a number of waves last season with their recruitment, when they announced the post-Rugby World Cup signings of veteran All Black Owen Franks and former Hurricanes standout Matt Proctor.
A combination of those high-profile signings from New Zealand and the opportunities that Boyd has handed to the young academy graduates at the club have heralded a new era in Northampton, one which has seen them start the Gallagher Premiership season strongly, as well as winning their opening Heineken Champions Cup game against Lyon.
According to the Northampton Chronicle & Echo, Boyd was open on his recruitment plans during a season ticket holders forum at Franklin’s Gardens on Tuesday.
“It’s really interesting because we’ve now got our contracting spreadsheet out to about the 2025/26 season. We’ve even got some young boys’ names in the Academy for three or four years’ time so we’re trying to predict where the holes are going to be and where we need to fill them if people retire or move on.
“The interesting thing short term is that our team for next season is almost full. We have no room to recruit a back unless we lose one, and we’ve probably only got room to recruit a couple of forwards if we want to. We will continue to stick to a policy of young and English, and you will see that we’ve avoided the temptation this year of chasing anyone with a big name, high profile and expensive ticket.
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“Because what’s going to happen with all of these youngsters is that they’re going to come up. We’re getting reasonably good value out of them at the moment because they’re in their first contracts, but in four years’ time, it’s going to be a big job to keep them all.
“We’re going to have to be really smart about how we keep those because I’m convinced that if we can keep the spine of this team together from young, English, local boys, that’s the best place we can come from.”
With Saints having blooded so many of their academy graduates over the last year – and profited from improved performances on the pitch – it is a smart move from Boyd to keep the salary cap space to hand out the inevitably larger second contracts that they are set to sign.
“I don’t know but I know I have got 34 players and I’m struggling and others have 48 quality players and aren’t so I suspect we’re not all the way there yet"https://t.co/JRXYd659Ec
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 21, 2019
RugbyPass understands that one of those potential new forward signings that the club has the scope to make following the retirements of Dylan Hartley and Heinrich Brussow is Saracens lock Joel Kpoku. The England U20 product is hungry for more playing time and with Maro Itoje, George Kruis, Will Skelton and Nick Isiekwe all ahead of him at the reigning European champions, a move up to Northampton could yield promising returns for the talented 20-year-old.
Kpoku is set to join Northampton’s own contingent of academy stars, including Alex Coles, who he played alongside in the England U20 side, as well as fellow forwards Ehren Painter, Toby Trinder and former Gloucester product JJ Tonks. In the backs, the likes of Fraser Dingwall, Ollie Sleightholme, James Grayson and Alex Mitchell have all already begun stamping their authority on the senior game, in what is a youthful and increasingly exciting Northampton squad.
One thing that could alter Boyd’s plans, however, is if Montpellier’s rumoured move for Cobus Reinach comes to fruition. Per reports, the French side are so keen on the South African Rugby World Cup-winner, that they are willing to pay Northampton compensation in order to get him out of his contract now, rather than at the end of the season, in which case Saints would not only have extra cap space, they would also find their coffers replenished.
WATCH: The Rugby Pod react to Saracens not appealing the salary cap sanctions
Comments on RugbyPass
An on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
24 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
24 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood 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.
24 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.
9 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.
24 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?
11 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.
11 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 comments