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The delights of being a Saints supporter |
| David Lowrence discusses the trials and tribulations of supporting a successful Saints team. |
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The 1,000 pointers |
| As Bruce Reihana approaches the 1,000 point milestone for the Saints, Simon Robinson looks back at other players who have reached this mark, along with a few who came close. |
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A new approach to youth development? |
| John Chambers asks whether rugby union could learn from the National Football League regarding the development of young players. |
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French leading the way in promoting positive rugby |
| Mark Hazell looks at French innovations that could have a positive impact on the Guinness Premiership. |
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'Who's in charge?', asks Jonathan Stockham |
| Lord Nelson, Viscount Montgomery, William Wallace, Lt Col David Stirling, Edgar Mobbs, John Smit, Willie John McBride, Wayne Shelford, The Duke of Wellington, Alexander the Great, Gen Dwight D Eisenhower, Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, Hannibal, Group Captain Leonard Cheshire VC, Winston Churchill. |
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Northampton Saints - a community club |
| Ken Brown says that a community ethos can be at the heart of future Saints successes. |
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How to manage players, or not |
| Mark Hazell takes a look at the different ways players are managed throughout the British Isles. |
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'Let's have a video ref at every game', by John Chambers |
| Cast your mind back (and I know it seems an awfully long time ago now) to the first two Guinness Premiership matches this season. In both those matches against Worcester, on the opening day, and at Wembley the following week, against Saracens, play was held up for a couple of minutes while the video referee examined all the angles to decide whether a try had been scored. |
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Why sensational Sevens deserves its Olympic chance, by Leon Addie |
| By the time you read this, the IOC is due to have announced whether rugby union has been successful in its bid to officially return to the Olympics for the first time since Paris 1924. Attempts were made to re-include rugby by Rome in 1960, Moscow in 1980, and Seoul in 1988. Following the third unsuccessful attempt, the IRB decided the abbreviated form of the game presented the best case for inclusion and began to focus its efforts on having sevens included in the Summer Games. |
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"End the replacement pantomime," says Richard Wallace |
| Bloodgate! I hate words that end g-a-t-e and this one has filled me with anguish just recently. I mention it now because I want to make clear that the Harlequins affair has highlighted something in the game that needs to be addressed. In the week before the RFU's task force on cheating produces its first report, let us look at the system of substitution and replacement. |
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"Rugby has to grow up", says Chris Brewer |
| With the exception of the Ashes victory sport has been put through the wringer as far as the headlines are concerned over the past few weeks. The art of timing is certainly interesting because as I'm writing this Sky News are showing reports of the violence between Millwall and West Ham fans at their Carling Cup tie. The previous night the news bulletins were dominated by the latest twist in the 'Bloodgate' saga. It's got me to thinking. |
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Food for thought about the season structure, by Mark Hazell |
| You've probably read in recent programmes Uncle Keith's notes regarding the Guinness Premiership clubs wanting to secure an extra six league games next season to help out the individual financial situations. That's all very well, but what would it mean for us, the committed supporters? |
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'Every time, ref!' by Dominic Newbould |
| If anyone doubts the impact that referees have on the modern game, they only have to read the acres of newsprint inspired by England's Autumn Internationals in 2008 and the 2009 Six Nations campaign when the team earned 10 sin-binnings in only four tests. In fact, in the nine Tests since Steve Borthwick took over the captaincy, England had 13 players sent to the sin-bin, a run that was only ended in his tenth match, when France were vanquished at Twickenham and no yellow cards were brandished. |
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'Let's remember where the players come from', says Richard Wallace |
| One of the things that I really dislike is when people are shown to be two-faced. They say one thing in one forum and another elsewhere. I find it even more insidious when an organisation enters into an agreement with its peers but in a few months is in the press saying how the world is unfair; the agreement is unfair and everyone is cheating us. |
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Mark Hazell explains the difficulties of having two clubs |
| I was lucky enough to be first brought to the Gardens by my father when I was six. I say to the Gardens, whereas in reality it was to the old lake where the South Stand now sits, so he could do some fishing for the afternoon while I peered through the wire fence. I wasn't really sure what was going on (and some would say that I still don't have a clue), haven't got a clue who Saints were playing (possibly Gloucester, as there were red and white shirts), but I know that I enjoyed it and everyone the other side of the fence looked like they were having a good time as well. |
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A blueprint for European rugby, by Leon Addie |
| Although obviously playing a higher standard of rugby than what's been available in the north of late, it's not hard to imagine All Blacks and Wallabies fans having become a little bored as their sides faced off four times over last summer. Maybe it wasn't quite as testing as five games against Bristol, but either way, most neutrals would love to see the Tri Nations refreshed by the addition of the Pumas and some form of Pacific islands interest. After all variety is the spice of life and the 3N is about as piquant as Russian cuisine. Of course, that's not something that affects the North's flagship tournament - the twice as diverse Six Nations - it's the most unpredictable and most exciting tournament in the world. Isn't it? |
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'Time for a new 'A' League?' asks Jon Gibson |
| I recently saw an interview with the Manchester RFC captain and the Sedgley Park RFC chairman on the Channel M show 'Talking Sharks'. The two gentlemen from the Manchester and Sedgley Park clubs were passing comment about the RFU proposal to make the NL1 a professional league and how it would affect their own and other NL1 clubs. |
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2009 will be a defining moment for English rugby, says Keith Brody |
| Whither domestic rugby? For all manner of reasons - ELVs, foreign imports, the Long Form Agreement, salary caps, future TV money, and even the recession - it's a question that should presently be on the lips of every Englishman who cares about the game. After a half dozen-plus year growth spurt, the Guinness Premiership stands at a crossroads of expansion or stasis; after two World Cup finals, the fortunes of the national side are (perhaps temporarily) on the wane. Where the top level management and administration of the game is concerned, what happens next may define English rugby for years to come. |
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A Gulf in Class, by Matt Weir |
| Many a year have I witnessed it, but only this year have I truly been able to accept it. Alas, this is all part of my denial of being a Northern Hemisphere inhabitant and rugby fan. It seems that...wait for it...Southern Hemisphere rugby is in a league above ours. Well above. |
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It's not all fun and games, says Jonathan Stockham |
| As I rattled through Dollis Hill the other morning on my rail journey through Metroland into Town, I thanked my lucky stars that it was only three days a week. The daily grind of commuting would be too awful day in, day out, week in...you get the picture! Even so my trip through London and out the other side involves four trains, five stations and needs everything running like a Swiss watch fresh out of the box to make it bearable. Without the component parts working together the journey would be a disaster. A bit like a rugby team really! |
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'It's a question of priorities', says Mark Hazell |
| Working in an area where corporate management-speak too often punctuates (and confuses) conversation, a lot of the time I'm asked about my long and short term aspirations. I don't need some of the worst extremes of this to know exactly what I'd like to see as a bottom line gain from Saints this season, and I'm sure it's the same as everyone here today - avoid relegation. |
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'It's the dawn of a new age', says Ken Brown |
| 26th April 2008 Saints 81, Launceston 0 The end of an unbeaten season. Flash scores a bucketful of tries and out comes the Moet & Chandon and some humungous pieces of silverware. All good clean fun. |
