Langdon aiming for ‘even better season’

Curtis Langdon says he is ready to back up a stellar debut season in Black, Green and Gold, as the hooker reflects on coming back into preseason training ahead of the new campaign.

The summer period was perhaps not quite what the 27-year-old was hoping it would be, as a shoulder injury he picked up in the Gallagher Premiership Final meant he spent June and July in Northampton rather than on tour with England in Japan and New Zealand.

But the Saints hooker took the setback in his stride and is keen to kick on in Northampton colours, ahead of the Premiership campaign getting underway when Saints travel to Bath on Friday 20 September (kick-off: 7.45pm).

“After the Final, I was in rehabbing quite a bit with my shoulder, trying to get that right as soon as possible,” said Langdon.

“I then went away for a week with my girlfriend to Croatia, which was nice, and since then I've been ripping into preseason. It’s been going well.

“I was hoping I was going to be on the England tour, and I had a few phone calls with Steve [Borthwick], but unfortunately after seeing the doctor after the Final and then being reviewed in the morning, my shoulder wasn't good enough to go on tour.

“I was pretty gutted at the time because I thought my shoulder would be okay in a few days, but looking back now, Steve made the right decision, and I wouldn't have been able to give my best if I did go on tour.

Langdon – who has two England caps to his name already – made some 27 appearances and scored nine tries in his debut campaign at Saints, scooping the Club’s Breakthrough Player of the Season award for his efforts.

While he was disappointed to miss out on more England appearances this summer, Langdon looks back on his first term at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens fondly.

“It was brilliant!” said the 27-year-old. “It’s hard to reflect on because it was so good. I don't think I could have hoped for it to have gone any better.

“You look back to the start of the season when we lost our first couple of Prem games then we got that first win, at Newcastle, and started to build a bit of momentum.

“Going as far as we went in Europe was special, especially being able to play at Croke Park in the semi-final, and obviously we came very close that day.

“It's really cool to look back on, but now the focus has been how can we go better this year, individually and as a team.

“I’m working hard now to put myself in the best place possible to have an even better season when it starts.”

Langdon continued: “Playing every week has helped massively in terms of working out how to be comfortable in this team and the best way to play with the players we’ve got with the system Sam Vesty wants to run and the system Radders [Lee Radford] brought in last year as well.

“All the game time helped me massively. I got some momentum and some experiences of playing in big games: the Premiership Final, semi-final and the European semi-final at Croke Park. It’s definitely made me a better player.”

This term, Curtis is not the only Langdon in Northampton, as his brother and fellow hooker Nathan Langdon signed on with Saints ahead of the coming campaign.

“It’s been strange in the past couple of weeks having [Nathan] around in preseason, but it has been nice as well,” Langdon said. “I know he's worked really hard to get to this point.

“He was with Sale Sharks at the start of last season and took his opportunities quite well there, but nothing really came of it. They had a lot of hookers at the World Cup so they came back and knocked him out of the team.

“But he’s buzzing to have his opportunity at Saints and I'm sure he'll be taking it with both hands. He’s been working hard, and he’ll be putting a lot of pressure on me as well so I’ll have to make sure I keep him at arm’s length.”

Langdon’s focus is now fully on Saints’ preseason training schedule, and clashes against Leinster (7 Sept) and Bedford Blues (13 Sept), ahead of their opening league clash of the season at the Recreation Ground.

Langdon added: "It’s not as long of a preseason as it was last year, so hopefully the season comes around quickly.

"We obviously start with Bath on a Friday night away so I'm really looking forward to that.

"Having them in the final and being on the right end of the result, Bath are going to be right up for that game, and so are we, so it's going to be a good test to start off with.”