Northampton Saints Wheelchair Rugby will enjoy home county comforts and are welcoming supporters along for their Great Britain WR5s Premiership final round this weekend.
For the first time since the competition began in 2018, Saints will get the opportunity to play in Northamptonshire on Sunday 13 June when Arena Sports in Kettering hosts their clashes against Help For Heroes (tip-off: 9.45am), Northeast Barbarians (1.15pm), Leicester Tigers (2.45pm) and Solent Sharks (4.15pm).
Saints enter the final weekend in third position with four wins and four losses over the opening two rounds, with the runners-up spot still firmly in their sights.
“We still have the opportunity to take second on Sunday and we’ve got to go and chase that,” said Higgins. “We have just got to go out and make sure we win at least three of our four games on the finals weekend.
“There is still an opportunity, potentially, for us to take first place but that is going to be dependent upon everyone else’s results and it is unlikely that Leicester Tigers are going to drop a game.”
The WR5s games and Development League fixtures taking place are free to spectate along with free parking, and Higgins is hopeful people take the opportunity to cheer Saints on.
“This WR5s tournament has been running since 2018 and this is the first time that any of the legs have been close to home,” he said. “For us as Northampton Saints to be playing in our home county only comes around when it is a Development League, so to be playing top-flight, Premiership WR5s in our county is a real opportunity for us to show what Northampton Saints Wheelchair Rugby as a programme is about.
“We want to showcase how we support our players and their opportunities to engage in activity and for fans to come and see the Wheelchair Rugby team and cheer us along.”
Jamie Higgins, Wheelchair Rugby Head Coach
“It will be a special occasion for all of us, especially our junior and newer players who have really stepped up. A number of them have been with the team for less than 12 months and have come in, got in a chair for the first time and then find themselves playing in the Premiership. It can be quite overwhelming.
“Our newer players and some of our junior players have really put the effort in to build themselves up and develop to play at the top level. They haven’t found themselves lost on court so that is a real positive for us in developing new players.”
