With the win over Exeter Chiefs Saints collected the piece of silverware that they valued above all other - the National League One trophy. This brings with it a return to the Premiership and all that that entails.
Bruce Reihana receives the Paget Cup from Ron Slinn (left) and Jon Godard (right)
Hopefully there will be the EDF Energy National Trophy to add to it as well in a fortnight’s time.
But there is another trophy that has been won in recent weeks by the club for the first time in over a decade – not since the club last won the second division title in 1996 in fact. This is the Paget Cup, and of all the trophies that the Saints will lift this season this cup is perhaps the one with the most history attached to it.
The Paget Cup is awarded to the club within the Northampton Alliance that has the best winning record over its season. This method means that no matter which league the club is in, whether Midlands Two or NL1, it has an equal chance of winning the trophy.
The Cup came into being in 1910 and was just one of several cups amassed by the Northamptonshire RFU (as was) after its formation in the 1890s. Little is known about the early history of the cup, but it is assumed that it was presented by the Paget family to encourage rugby in the area. What is certain is that for many years it was a cup played for by works teams in the Northampton area.
The first positive knowledge of the cup is in a photo of the Progressives RFC team who won it in 1911-12 and 13, along with the Oceanic trophy. They were part of the C and E Lewis boot and show factory. The Cup was specifically for works teams and was played at the end of the season, usually during the week. It was handed over to the Northampton and District Rugby Alliance in September 1922 and was thought to have been played for every year until 1939 when, like much rugby, the competition stopped until after the war.
Competition resumed in 1949 with the final being played at Franklin’s Gardens, but over the following years the number of individual works teams declined and by the end of the 1960s it had been agreed that trades and professions could enter as well.
Teams included Barratts, EMEB Timber, Northampton Machinery, Express Lifts as well as teams of teachers, builders, accountants, farmers and so on. Such was the interest in the 1950s and 60s that international players played in the Cup, along with many Saints and Wanderers players, as guests of those sides who couldn’t put together a full XV. A few examples are Jeff Butterfield, Frank Sykes and Piggy Powell, who played for the farmers on at least one occasion.
However between 1976/77 and the late 1980s the Paget Cup was put on ice. But the Cup is now back as a fixture within the N&DRA and the Saints are very proud to be its holders for the next 12 months.
