NORTHAMPTON ARE FORMER Heineken Cup champions, as Munster fans know only too well, but it’s fair to say their pedigree in the competition had faded in recent years.
In fact, the Saints lost all 10 of their Champions Cup pool matches in the three seasons before the current one.
While they were making progress in the Premiership, the English club couldn’t compete in Europe. They faced Leinster in the pool stages in 2019 and 2020, losing at the RDS and in the Aviva Stadium.
But Northampton have turned things around impressively in the Champions Cup this season, marching into Saturday’s semi-final against Leinster at Croke Park in convincing form.
“It feels different for us definitely,” says centre Fraser Dingwall, who featured in both of those games against Leinster and believes the Saints are a much better team now.
This has been years in the making. Their progress started with the arrival of Kiwi director of rugby Chris Boyd back in 2018. After three years of mediocre seasons hanging around the Premiership’s mid-table, the experienced Boyd was tasked with leading a rebuild.
The new plan involved bringing through talented youngsters from the Northampton academy, current first-teamers Alex Mitchell, George Furbank, Tommy Freeman, Ollie Sleightholme, Alex Moon, and Dingwall among them. Recruitment has still been important, with the Saints making smart signings like Sam Graham, Curtis Langdon, Juarno Augustus, and Fin Smith along the way.
Boyd also implemented an exciting new brand of attacking rugby and that identity remains to this day, even if Saints have a steelier edge now and are happy to kick more often.
As well as developing young players, Boyd’s job involved mentoring promising coaches. Former Saints back row Phil Dowson was identified as Boyd’s eventual successor as director of rugby, while Sam Vesty joined as attack coach the same summer as the New Zealander. Vesty moved into the head coach role when Boyd left in 2023.
Northampton had another average season in Bord’s first campaign in charge but they made the Premiership play-offs in 2019/20 and have been semi-finalists for the past two years.
Boyd headed home in 2022, with Dowson and Vesty driving things on since. The addition of former rugby league star Lee Radford as their defence coach last summer was smart.
While there is great pride in the homegrown core of the team, 21-year-old out-half Smith has proven to be a key man since joining upon the demise of Worcester Warriors in late 2022.
“He’s not necessarily blessed with athletic ability but his ability to understand the game, the stage, feel and the context of the game, field position, pressure – that’s all what we’ve seen this year,” says Dingwall.
“We’ve seen him win games for us. That game in Thomond Park [in January], he came through for us with his short kicking game while also using the conditions to help us over the line.”
On the other end of the age scale, Northampton are still reliant on the brilliance of 35-year-old flanker Courtney Lawes.
The former England international is an academy product and has been playing for Saints since 2007 but will leave at the end of this campaign for French side Brive. Lawes has been immense on the pitch this season and Dingwall says he’s a huge influence off it.
Northampton will need Lawes, Smith, and co. to deliver this weekend as they face a huge challenge against Leinster in the semi-finals.
They discussed the history of Croker in their team meeting on Monday and Dingwall says they’re honoured to be given the chance to play at such a special venue this weekend.
While Leinster’s first-choice players have rested over the last two weekends, most of the Saints’ stars have featured in at least one of their Premiership games against Leicester and Harlequins.
Saints were beaten by Quins in an exciting clash last weekend but they remain top of the English league with 11 wins in their 16 matches.
So they’re fighting on two fronts as they bid to cause an upset in Croker. The club’s most recent trophies were when they won the Premiership and Challenge Cup double in 2013/14.
“Recent history shows it is possible and I don’t see any reason why we couldn’t do it but it’s not something that just happens,” says Dingwall of their dream of doing the double.
“It comes from each week, you fight for each week and every team will be coming after you, especially when you’re sat at the top of your league. That means that everyone’s got a bounty on your head.
“You’ve got to be hungrier than those people who are chasing after you so, yeah, a week at a time but I don’t see any reason why we can’t.”
Beating Leinster in Dublin would be a monumental step in Northampton’s impressive rise but even if they lose at Croke Park, this season will still have been one of progress. The Saints are back at the top table and they plan to stay.
