Northampton Saints

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Northampton Saints
File:Northampton saints badge.png
Full nameNorthampton Rugby Football Club
Nickname(s)Jimmies,[1] Saints
Founded1880; 144 years ago (1880)
LocationWeedon Road, St James' End Northampton NN5 5BG, England
Ground(s)Franklin's Gardens
(Capacity: 13,591[2]
ChairmanTony Hewitt
Coach(es)England Jim Mallinder
Captain(s)England Dylan Hartley
Most capsEngland Ron Jacobs 470
Top scorerEngland Paul Grayson 2,786 [3]
Most triesEngland Teddy Cook 219
League(s)Aviva Premiership
2012–134th (Playoff runner up)
1st kit
2nd kit
Largest win
Saints 96 – 3 Sedgley Park
(2008)
Largest defeat
London Wasps 54 – 12 Saints
(2000)
Official website
www.northamptonsaints.co.uk

Northampton Saints are a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. The Northampton Saints were formed in 1880. They play in black, green, and gold colours. They play their home games at Franklin's Gardens, which has a capacity of 13,591.

The club won their first major trophy when they defeated Munster in the 1999–2000 Heineken Cup final. Recent success has involved winning The 2008–09 European Challenge Cup, The 2009–10 LV Cup and consistently maintaining a playoff position in the Aviva Premiership. The Saints also reached the final of the 2010–11 Heineken Cup and the 2011–12 LV Cup.

Their biggest rivals are Leicester Tigers. "The East Midlands Derby" is one of the fiercest rivalries in English Rugby Union.

The Saints posted a club record £13.34 million turnover for the 2012–13 season,[1] and a 13th consecutive year of profit up to 31 May 2013.

History

Early years

The club was established in 1880 under the original title of Northampton St. James (Saints) by Rev Samuel Wathen Wigg, a local clergyman and curate of St. James Church who was a resident of the nearby village of Milton Malsor in the house known as 'Mortimers'.[4] This is how the club got its two nicknames of The Saints or Jimmies. His original concept was to promote "order" to his younger parish members by creating a youth rugby club, with the philosophy of a "hooligan sport designed to turn them into gentlemen".

It was not long before Northampton had one of the major rugby union teams in the country. Twenty years after its establishment, the first Saints player, local farmer Harry Weston, was awarded an England cap.

As the club progressed through the early years of the 20th century one player dominated this era for the club, Edgar Mobbs. Edgar was a hero throughout the town. He was the first Northampton player to captain his country but is best remembered for his exploits in World War I. After initially being turned down as too old, Edgar raised his own "Sportsman's" battalion otherwise known as Mobbs Own. Edgar was killed in battle, leading his battalion over the top by kicking a rugby ball into no man's land on 29 July 1917 attacking a machine gun post and his body was never found. The club arranged the Mobbs Memorial Match as a tribute. It had been played every year since 1921 between the Barbarians and East Midlands at Franklin's Gardens.

In this postwar period the Saints continued to grow, and they started to produce some of the best players in England, some of whom went on to captain their country. They were one of the driving forces in the English game for the next 60 years producing players such as Butterfield, Jeeps, Longland, White and Jacobs but hard times were ahead.

The club failed to keep pace with movements within the game and top players were no longer attracted to the Gardens, where a 'them and us' mentality had built up between the players and those in charge of the club. Some former players formed their own task force which swept out the old brigade in the 1988 'Saints Revolution' and put a plan into action which would put the club back at the top of the English game.

Barry Corless, as director of rugby, set about restructuring the club and soon the Saints were back on the way up, helped by the signing of All Blacks legend Wayne 'Buck' Shelford.

In 1990, Northampton Rugby Union Football Club gained promotion to the then First Division and the following year made their first trip to Twickenham to play Quins in the Pilkington Cup Final. They lost in extra time but the foundations of a good Saints line-up were beginning to show in the following few seasons.

Tim Rodber and Ian Hunter forced their way into the England setup while younger players such as Paul Grayson, Matt Dawson and Nick Beal came through the ranks and would follow the duo into the England senior team.

In 1994, Ian McGeechan took over as Director of Rugby, and although the club were relegated in his first season, they returned in style the next season, winning every single game of their campaign and averaging 50 points a game. This season is referred to by many fans of the club as the "Demolition Tour of Division Two".

Professional era

Bruce Reihana

In 1995, rugby union turned professional and the club was taken over by local businessman Keith Barwell.

In 1999, Saints came runners-up in the Allied Dunbar Premiership, their league campaign climaxing with a crucial home local derby with eventual winners Leicester Tigers which they lost 15–22.[5] Ian McGeechan had left the club at the end of the previous season to return to coach Scotland, and was replaced by former Saints player John Steele who had done well on a limited budget at London Scottish. Steele relied on the foundations laid by McGeechan, as well as the inspirational captaincy of Samoan Pat Lam to lead the club to European success the following season.

In 1999–2000, the club became a Public Limited Company (Plc) and shares were issued to the public; in this season the Saints lost in the Tetley's Bitter Cup Final to Wasps, but beat Munster 9–8 in the European Cup Final to win their first major trophy.

After a poor start to the 2001/2002 season, former All-Black coach Wayne Smith was appointed as Head Coach. He went on to transform the club in five short months. A team who looked down and out in November were moulded into a side that reached the Powergen Cup final and again qualified for the Heineken Cup. Travis Perkins became the club's main sponsor in 2001.[6]

In recent times the club narrowly survived relegation from the Premiership, after the then coach (Alan Solomons) was sacked in the middle of the 2004–5 season. The coaching role was passed onto the former first team mates Budge Pountney and Paul Grayson to tide the team over. They had a slow start in the 2005–6 season, but continued to stay mainly unbeaten after the New Year. Budge retired at the start of the 2006–7 season leaving Grayson in overall control.

The Saints would again compete in the 2006–07 Heineken Cup. They finished second in their pool, behind Biarritz Olympique, the runners-up from the previous season. Northampton qualified for the quarter-finals and actually met Biarritz in Spain. Despite being in last place of the English league at the time, they defeated the French champions 7–6 to advance to the semi-finals.

Relegation 2007-08

On 28 April 2007, despite a 27–22 victory over London Irish at Franklin's Gardens, Northampton were relegated from the Guinness Premiership. A "behind the scenes restructure" led to the brief appointment of Peter Sloane as Head Coach, from the role of forwards coach. Paul Grayson became the skills and backs coach.

On 9 June 2007, Northampton announced that England Saxons coach Jim Mallinder would become the new head coach and Director of Rugby, with his assistant Dorian West also following as assistant coach. Peter Sloane has since left the club.

On 22 March 2008, Northampton beat Exeter Chiefs to ensure their promotion and a return to the Guinness Premiership. On 12 April 2008, Northampton beat Exeter Chiefs 24–13 at Twickenham Stadium to win the EDF trophy. On 26 April 2008 they ended their National Division One season undefeated with 30 wins from 30 games.

A new era 2008-13

In the 2008–09 season, the Saints finished eighth on the table and only losing one game at home to Newcastle Falcons. They also lifted the European Challenge Cup, defeating French side Bourgoin 15–3 in the final on 22 May 2009 at The Stoop in London.[7] The victory gave them a place in the 2009–10 Heineken Cup.

In March 2010, the Saints won the LV= Cup final against Gloucester Rugby 30–24, gaining them their fourth piece of silverware in three years, and a place in the following season's Heineken Cup. They also finished second in the Guinness Premiership, losing to Saracens 19–21 in the semi-final played at Franklin's Gardens, and progressed as far as the quarter-finals of the Heineken Cup losing to Munster at Thomond Park, Limerick.

At the start of the new 2010/11 Aviva Premiership questions had been raised about the size of the Squad.[citation needed] However Saints started the season of with a 6-game winning streak. They finished fourth in the Aviva Premiership, losing to Leicester in a controversial semi-final.[citation needed] Saints also went undefeated into the final of the Heineken Cup, where they were beaten by Leinster 33–22, at the Millennium Stadium after a second half collapse.[citation needed] They were also knocked out of the 2011–12 Heineken Cup after a second half collapse in Stadium MK against a youthful Munster team.

With nine players out for the World Cup in New Zealand, Saints struggled to find form at the beginning of the season. However, when the international players returned, they began to move up the table. With the sacking of Martin Johnson in November Stuart Lancaster was introduced as England manager. He picked 8 Saints players out of a squad of 32 to represent England, meaning that over a quarter of the England team were Saints – a new club record for the number of players selected for a single England squad. Ryan Lamb and Paul Doran-Jones were also picked for England Saxons and three junior Saints for the U20's Six Nations. Nevertheless in 2011/12 the Saints still reached a third successive Aviva Premiership Rugby semi-final and a second LV= Cup final in three seasons.

2012/13 was a roller-coaster of a season. After winning their first five matches, the Saints were pulled back into the pack both in the Aviva Premiership and exited both the LV= Cup and Heineken Cup, despite ending Ulster's four-year unbeaten home European record just before Christmas 2012.

At a couple of points the team slipped to sixth in the Aviva Premiership table - something that hadn't been seen for some years at the Gardens - but the team rallied, re-engaged with its supporters which coined the phrase 'Why not us', and secured fourth place in the league with a round of matches still to play. A stunning win at Saracens followed, which put the Saints in their first ever Aviva Premiership Final. he 2013 Aviva Premiership Rugby Final at Twickenham was a batlle between Leicester Tigers and Nothampton Saints, which Saints lost 37-17.[8][9]

After the Final 2013

The season finished with seven players being taken by Stuart Lancaster to Argentina as part of the England squad, including Tom Wood as captain.

Stadium

Franklin's Gardens

The Burrda Stand

Northampton Saints have played at Franklin's Gardens since 1880, when the club was born. Franklin's Gardens is a purpose-built rugby stadium near the town centre. It is about 1,250m from the railway station and about 2,000m from the bus station. The stadium holds 13,591 people. The stadium also has 40 corporate boxes. Each can hold from 8 to 24 people. The four stands are: Tetleys Stand; Burrda South Stand; Church's Stand; and Sturtridge Pavilion. It is also a multi-functional conference centre as well as the only UK Guinness Premiership ground with its own cenotaph. In 2009, the Saints' board announced they would be applying to increase capacity to 17,000 with the redevelopment of the North Stand. It was intended this would be funded by a £40 million investment by supermarket chain Asda, who would build a new store on the land currently used as training pitches. A political battle ensued with the local council, which later came to be seen as an attempt by the board to wrest public funding and public land for their commercial objectives.

Northampton Saints had an unbeaten home record that stretched from March 2007 to March 2009, much of this record was set during the Saints' 2007/08 promotion from the RFU Championship (previously National Division One). During the 2008/09 Guinness Premiership regular season the Saints only lost at Franklin's Gardens on one occasion, to the Newcastle Falcons.

The average attendance at the Gardens this season is 13,428.

Special arrangements for Heineken Cup matches

Stadium:MK

On 24 January 2011, the club announced that their forthcoming Heineken Cup quarter final match against Ulster was to take place at Stadium:MK in Milton Keynes, because Franklin's Gardens is too small to meet the minimum 15,000 seats demanded by the organisers.[10] It was a game they would eventually win, beating Ulster 23–13. The subsequent semi final against Perpignan was also played at Stadium:MK for the same reason, Saints winning 23–7.

The Saints had previously indicated that they might play future major games at Stadium:MK as their proposal to expand Franklin's Gardens using an enabling (ASDA supermarket) development was experiencing difficulties because of conflict with national planning policy.[citation needed]

Current standings

Template:2013–14 English Premiership Table (rugby union)

Kit

In 2008, after being promoted from the championship to the premiership, Saints changed from Kooga to Rhino. After two years with Rhino, and coming second in the table, Saints switched again to BURRDA, a Swiss sports apparel company. Northampton have signed a four-year deal with BURRDA which have brought back the old-fashioned ring but with a modern twist for the home shirt and the away shirt with its black and gold ring with a peppermint light green background. This is a big step for Burrda because the Saints and the Scarlets are BURRDA's first rugby teams that they have supplied kit to.

Players

Current squad

2013/14 Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union
Dylan Hartley (c) Hooker England England
Mike Haywood Hooker England England
Ross McMillan Hooker England England
Adam Parkins Prop England England
Tom Mercey Prop England England
Alex Waller Prop England England
Ethan Waller Prop England England
Gareth Denman Prop England England
Salesi Ma'afu Prop Australia Australia
Alex Corbisiero Prop England England
James Craig Lock England England
Christian Day Lock England England
Rob Verbakel Lock New Zealand New Zealand
Courtney Lawes Lock England England
Samu Manoa Lock United States United States
Calum Clark Flanker England England
Cameron Dolan Flanker United States United States
Sam Dickinson Flanker England England
Ben Nutley Flanker England England
Teimana Harrison Flanker England England
Tom Wood Flanker England England
Phil Dowson (vc) Flanker England England
Gerrit-Jan van Velze Number 8 South Africa South Africa
Player Position Union
Lee Dickson Scrum-half England England
Kahn Fotuali'i Scrum-half Samoa Samoa
Ryan Glynn Scrum-half England England
Stephen Myler Fly-half England England
Glenn Dickson Fly-half New Zealand New Zealand
Luther Burrell Centre England England
George Pisi Centre Samoa Samoa
Dominic Waldouck Centre England England
James Wilson Centre New Zealand New Zealand
Tom Stephenson Centre England England
Vasily Artemyev Wing Russia Russia
Paul Diggin Wing England England
George North Wing Wales Wales
Jamie Elliott Wing England England
Ken Pisi Wing Samoa Samoa
Fa'atoina Autagavaia Fullback Samoa Samoa
Ben Foden Fullback England England

Academy squad

Note: Flags indicate national union under World Rugby eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-World Rugby nationality.

Player Position Union
Reece Marshall Hooker England England
Matt Williams Hooker South Africa South Africa
Danny Herriott Prop England England
Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi Prop England England
Harry Morley Prop England England
Jordan Onojaife Lock England England
Sam Harry Flanker England England
Player Position Union
Lewis Hall Scrum-half England England
Will Hooley Fly-half England England
Sam Olver Fly-half England England
Tom Collins Wing England England
Howard Packman Wing England England
Josh Skelcey Wing England England

Coaching Staff

First team

  • Jim Mallinder – Director of rugby
  • Dorian West – Forwards coach
  • Alex King – Attacking/skills/kicking coach
  • Alan Dickens – Assistant coach
  • Tom Bullough – Conditioner
  • Marc Finney – Conditioner
  • Chris Hart – Conditioner
  • Matt Lee – Physio
  • Caroline White - Physio
  • Nathan Allwork - Physio
  • Paul Shields – Team manager

Academy

  • Alan Dickens – Academy manager
  • Dusty Hare – Academy recruitment and development manager
  • Mark Hopley – Academy coach
  • Ross Stewart – Elite Player Development Group manager

Transfers 2014-15

Players In

Players Out

International caps in the club's history

Hall of Fame

The history of Northampton Saints is one filled with illustrious names. To recognise and honour their time in the black, green and gold the club established its Hall of Fame in 2004. To date 12 legendary players have been inducted:

Captains

Club honours

Statistics

Overall Stats

Seasons summary

Season Domestic League Domestic Cup European Cup
Competition Final position Points Competition Performance Competition Performance
2013–14 Aviva Premiership TBD TBD LV Cup Runners Up 2013–14 Heineken Cup 2nd Pool A
2012–13 Aviva Premiership 4th 65 LV Cup 2nd in pool 2012–13 Heineken Cup 2nd Pool D
2011–12 Aviva Premiership 4th 65 LV Cup Runners-Up 2011–12 Heineken Cup 3rd Pool A
2010–11 Aviva Premiership 4th 65 LV Cup 2nd in pool 2010–11 Heineken Cup Runners-up
2009–10 Guinness Premiership 2nd 71 LV Cup Winners 2009–10 Heineken Cup Quarter-finals
2008–09 Guinness Premiership 8th 49 EDF Energy Cup Semi-finalists European Challenge Cup Winners
2007–08 National Division One Champions 143 EDF Energy Trophy Winners Did Not Qualify Did Not Qualify
2006–07 Guinness Premiership 12th 33 EDF Energy Cup 4th in pool 2006–07 Heineken Cup Semi-finals
2005–06 Guinness Premiership 6th 53 Powergen Cup 2nd in pool European Challenge Cup Quarter-finals
2004–05 Zurich Premiership 11th 40 Powergen Cup N/A 2004–05 Heineken Cup Quarter-finals
2003–04 Zurich Premiership 3rd 70 Powergen Cup N/A 2003–04 Heineken Cup 2nd Pool D
2002–03 Zurich Premiership 3rd 62 Powergen Cup Runners-up 2002–03 Heineken Cup Quarter-finals
2001–02 Zurich Premiership 5th 56 Powergen Cup Runners-up 2001–02 Heineken Cup 4th Pool E
2000–01 Zurich Premiership 4th 59 Powergen Cup N/A 2000–01 Heineken Cup 4th Pool A
1999–00 Allied Dunbar Premiership 5th 35 Tetley Bitter Cup Runners-up 1999–2000 Heineken Cup Winners

See also

References

  1. ^ "Glossary 2009/10". Rugbynetwork.net. Retrieved 15 November 2011.
  2. ^ "Clubs : Northampton Saints". Premiership Rugby. 26 November 2010. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  3. ^ "Club records". Northampton Saints. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  4. ^ "Saints history website". Retrieved 29 December 2013.
  5. ^ "Rugby Union | Leicester move out of sight". BBC News. 13 March 1999. Retrieved 20 December 2010.
  6. ^ Northampton Saints, northamptonsaints.co.uk Retrieved 30 November 2010
  7. ^ Pryor, Matthew (23 May 2009). "Northampton lift European Challenge Cup". The Times. London. Retrieved 26 May 2009.
  8. ^ "Hartley hit with 11 week ban". www.espn.co.uk. 25 May 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  9. ^ "Tigers power to tenth title as Hartley sees red". www.espn.co.uk. 25 May 2013. Retrieved 12 June 2013.
  10. ^ Northampton forced to move Ulster tie to Milton Keynes – BBC Sport
  11. ^ "Worcester sign Gerrit-Jan van Velze from Northampton Saints". BBC Sport. 4 February 2014.
  12. ^ "Jersey sign prop Danny Herriott from Northampton Saints". BBC Sport. 10 April 2014.
  13. ^ "Jersey sign Northampton Saints scrum-half Ryan Glynn". BBC Sport. 17 April 2014.
  14. ^ "Northampton Saints stalwart Paul Diggin to retire". BBC Sport. 14 May 2014.

External links

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