Tom Litchfield feels he ‘belongs’ in the Northampton Saints side when he is selected, and the evidence is certainly speaking for itself.
Heading into the 2025/26 season, there was a Burger Odendaal‑sized hole in Northampton’s midfield options following the giant South African’s departure after two injury‑hit seasons in the East Midlands.
The answer as to who was going to lead the charge and challenge the likes of Fraser Dingwall, Rory Hutchinson and Tommy Freeman this term has, perhaps unsurprisingly given the background of those three homegrown talents, come from within.
Nobody has worn the number 13 jersey more frequently than Litchfield so far during the 2025/26 campaign. His six tries this season are exactly double his previous best return in Black, Green and Gold, with at least five regular‑season games remaining.
Half of those scores came in a blistering March – which saw him named cinch Player of the Month as he crossed the line against Exeter Chiefs, Newcastle Red Bulls and Saracens – as well as setting up Archie McParland’s match‑winning try in that encounter at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Heading into the visit of Bath Rugby to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday (kick‑off: 5.30pm), he is one of Phil Dowson’s in‑form players and is poised to make another telling impact.
“I’ve definitely felt this season that I’ve belonged in the team when I’ve been playing,” said Litchfield, who has made 18 appearances this season, either side of a hamstring injury that ruled him out for more than ten weeks.
“Post‑injury, I really wanted to get back playing and put my stamp on the squad in that centre position.
Ahead of Saturday’s game, honours are even in this head‑to‑head from two meetings this season at The Rec. The first, a 21-41 away win for Saints in December, came during Litchfield’s time on the sidelines, and in the most recent Investec Champions Cup meeting, the 24‑year‑old featured as a replacement as Saints exited the competition at the quarter‑final stage.
“I was disappointed to be on the bench because you don’t want to miss those big games, but I’m really looking forward to this run‑in and hopefully being involved in as many big games as I can,” Litchfield said.
“We obviously reviewed it [the Bath loss] the week after that last game against them, but we looked at Exeter as quite a good test run for similar threats that Bath will have.
“We’re feeling in good stead and we’ve looked at things we can work on to put into this game that we did against Exeter.”
Litchfield’s fingerprints were all over the 28-35 success at Sandy Park last time out, most notably in Saints’ opening try when he combined with George Hendy for Alex Mitchell’s first‑half score.
Despite being pegged back by a late Exeter score, Saints managed to claim all five points with Fin Smith’s last‑minute converted score.
Litchfield added: “I got through a lot of work. I want to carry as much as I can – that’s what I’m good at – so I want to get the team going forward and provide some opportunities for other guys through the contact. I was pretty happy I managed to do that a few times.
“We always trust our game, trust our DNA and have the belief we can always get the result, whether that be in the 81st minute or not.
“It was a frustrating game in parts, but we knew they had a good defence, we knew they would throw a lot at us in attack, so it was just those frustrating parts you have to get through and get our game on the pitch, which we did.”