Following the final round of league matches last weekend, Premiership Rugby have today announced their Team of the Season – with five Northampton Saints stars named amongst the XV for 2023/24.
Saints – who won 12 out of 18 Premiership matches to finish top of the pile for the first time since 2015 – dominate the line-up as Curtis Langdon, Alex Coles, Courtney Lawes, Fin Smith and Ollie Sleightholme are all named among the league’s top performers.
Langdon, who made 25 appearances in a debut Saints campaign that would also see him named Northampton’s Breakthrough Player of the Season, is named in the side at hooker – having scored seven of his nine tries this term in the league campaign.
Having reached a century of appearances in Black, Green and Gold this season, 24-year-old Coles earns recognition for his selfless work in Saints’ second row as he is named as one of the league’s standout locks.
Lawes earns his place in the league’s back row in what is his final season as a Saint, where his 17 appearances and five tries in all competitions also earned him the Gallagher Player of the Month of December, the cinch Player of the Month for January, a nomination for the Investec Player of the Year and Saints’ Supporters’ Player of the Season.
Just a week after taking home Northampton’s Young Player of the Season gong, 22-year-old Smith takes the highly-coveted fly-half spot after a standout season for Saints – where he also won the Gallagher Player of the Month for January and earned a nomination for the Investec Player of the Year.
And finally, Sleightholme rounds off Saints’ contributions to the Premiership Team of the Season, with the winger’s 14 tries in 12 league appearances not only sealing him the Premiership Rugby Top Try Scorer gong at last night’s Premiership Rugby Awards but also a spot amongst the league’s top names from the campaign.
Chris Jones, BBC Rugby Union Correspondent, and member of the judging panel, said: “The great thing about this XV is the combination of the grizzled international pros like Lawes and [Henry] Slade with the breakout stars such as [Fin] Baxter and [Immanuel] Feyi-Waboso.
“Then you have players like Ben Spencer continuing to remind everyone of his enduring class, while Curtis Langdon at hooker has been a revelation this campaign for Saints.
“The fact Northampton are providing five of the XV is testament to the excellent season they’ve had.”
Premiership Rugby Team of the Season
15 Tyrone Green (Harlequins)
14 Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter Chiefs)
13 Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs)
12 Benhard Janse van Rensburg (Bristol Bears)
11 Ollie Sleightholme (Northampton Saints)
10 Fin Smith (Northampton Saints)
9 Ben Spencer (Bath Rugby)
1 Fin Baxter (Harlequins)
2 Curtis Langdon (Northampton Saints)
3 Thomas Du Toit (Bath Rugby)
4 Rusi Tuima (Exeter Chiefs)
5 Alex Coles Northampton Saints)
6 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
7 Ben Earl (Saracens)
8 Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers)
