When a player joins Northampton Saints – whether a big-money international or a school graduate – they are watched closely.
Their rugby ability has already been scrutinised and approved, but their character is assessed in more detail before being assigned to one of the club’s four mini-teams.
It’s not quite Harry Potter and the Sorting Hat, but it’s close, with a draft system that assigns new faces to each installment.
The mini-teams, with their own colours and logos, are called ‘The Rippers’, ‘The Lunamok’, ‘The Manor’ and ‘The Megatrons’. The idea is to create a sense of unity and competition that you won’t find anywhere else in the Gallagher Premiership.
‘It makes the whole club a family,’ says Saints’ George Hendy. Northampton’s family feel has already helped them succeed. On Friday, they will start the 2024-25 season as Premier League champions.
Mail Sport presents the Saints’ plans to retain their crown.
Northampton Saints are gearing up to defend their Premiership title.
Saints director of rugby Phil Dawson admits the team have a target on their hands this season.
It’s been a busy summer at Franklin’s Gardens, with team meetings at the church, players v staff cricket, Team GB’s Olympic psychologist and a new badge. In many ways, the new campaign represents a new dawn for the Saints.
Club legends Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and Alex Waller have all left, while revered chief executive Mark Darbon is set to leave soon. And there has been a change to the club badge, designed to bring Northampton into line with the times.
While the new, simplified logo hasn’t pleased everyone, sales of the club’s new match and training kits have been at record levels during pre-season.
‘We’ve got a target on our backs now,’ said Saints director of rugby Phil Dawson. ‘Every year we have to be conscious of another chapter in the club’s history. Last season was a great chapter. It was a real high point, but it’s over.
‘That’s yesterday’s news. It’s gone. We’ve retired the badge, so there’s something about identity there too. We can’t live with that. The next group has to step up.’
Dawson wants to ensure the team do not rest on their laurels and has interviewed players in training to assess who will be the next leaders, with former England strikers Ross and Ludlam now playing in France.
This time last year, Northampton players were emphasizing weight gain to add defensive strength to their flexible attacking game, and the result was their first league title in a decade.
This season will probably be more mental than physical, with Dowson hiring psychologist Oli Dixon, who worked with Team GB at the Paris Olympics this summer, to guide his squad.
Courtney Lawes was one of the club’s legends to leave the club after their title-winning season.
Players used microphones during the preseason to evaluate who the next generation of leaders would be.
Northampton Saints use a simplified badge to help them keep up with the times.
‘We spent a lot of time last year looking for the right psychologist,’ Dowson said. ‘Towards the end of last season, Oli came in and he made an immediate impact. He now comes in two days a week and his role involves a lot of different things – pre-match routines, dealing with losing games, keeping his personal life and his playing life separate, because sometimes that can cross over and become a problem.
‘There are so many different things the group can do better. Ollie has been instrumental in guiding us through our leadership development.’
On the first day of pre-season, with the club’s seven England stars still resting after a summer tour of Japan and New Zealand, Dowson decided to take the players to St James’s Church, where he laid the Premiership trophy on the altar and told them it would be the last time they would see it.
The message was clear. Last season’s group won the award. Now the 2024-25 group must do the same. ‘We did a great job in the league last year and I hope this group can build on that,’ said Saints’ England fly-half Fin Smith.
‘Some people might be writing us off because of the departure of some players, but we are very confident. Everyone usually aims for the team that won the league last season. We expect that to happen, but we like the idea of ​​doing things quietly and surprising a few people like we did last year.’
Northampton’s form last season was rewarded with a number of players being called up to the England squad. Alex Mitchell is now the number one scrum-half for club and country. He and Smith, along with other internationals, spent their holiday in Bali on their way home from New Zealand.
The returning Saints players helped open the town’s first padel court, played golf and avenged the previous year’s defeat to the club staff in the annual cricket challenge, while they also trained in wrestling and grappling skills at the aptly named Blood, Sweat and Tears gym.
The 2024-25 team has been given the message that they need to repeat last year’s group’s success.
Flyhalf Finn Smith insists team is ‘very confident’ despite summer changes
Northampton Saints were competitive in every aspect, including the warm-up.
At Saints, everything is competitive. The squad is divided into mini-teams for football warm-ups. Slide tackles are banned, but one young player was recently given no warning and was punished with an extra 10km Wattbike session after a lunge.
Northampton’s youngest players who join the club’s academy after finishing school are required to have their heads shaved for the start of their first season – a long-standing tradition at Saints.
The practice was introduced by former rugby boss Chris Boyd, a close ally of Dowson and head coach Sam Vesty, who reaped the rewards of the New Zealanders’ efforts.
“We took a huge responsibility last season to be player-centred and not follow the coaches’ dictates, which we have done before,” said England full-back George Firbank, who took over as captain from Ludlum.
Furbank epitomises the Saints’ approach, having been involved in the club’s local rugby festivals from a young age, progressing through the academy and into the first team.
At a time of financial difficulty in English club rugby, Northampton pride themselves on sustainability and developing their own players through their academy is a key part of their plans.
Captain George Furbank epitomises Saints’ approach to developing academy players.
That approach won’t change when Julia Chapman succeeds Darbon as CEO in November. Chapman first joined the Saints in 2016 and has a background in finance. She wants to help the Saints attract a new generation of supporters.
‘We want to leave a legacy at this club. We want to bring in young people and attract more fans,’ said Furbank.
Northampton are favourites to win the 2024-25 title. Lawes and Ludlam are big losses and have not been directly replaced, but Saints, with a dangerous back division full of English talent, should be up for the challenge once again.
No team has won back-to-back titles since Saracens in 2018-19. Northampton are likely to do exactly that.
