Saints “delighted” with full houses

Posted on Sep 23, 2010 in Rugby News

Northampton Saints chief executive Allan Robson says that he is delighted with how the club’s supporters have reacted to the start of the Aviva Premiership Rugby season.

Franklin’s Gardens has had the ‘Sold Out’ signs hung outside it for both of the opening two home matches of the season, against Leicester Tigers and Bath in Rounds 1 and 3 respectively.

And Robson says that the capacity crowds, which are in contrast to the recent press coverage of Aviva Premiership Rugby attendances, reflect the hard work being done at the club on and off the field, as well as the excitement felt by the Saints fans.

“At the moment we are in a virtuous circle that reflects the work being put in by all departments at the Saints,” he commented. “Jim Mallinder and the coaches have the team playing an exciting brand of rugby, and the players have put in a massive amount of effort to win our first three games, two of which were against our fellow semi-finalists last season.

“We knew before the start of the season that we had nigh-on record numbers of season tickets sold. Despite this there are still a few thousand tickets to sell every weekend and our marketing and Community teams have worked very hard to make sure that these tickets are sold.

“We have established strong partnerships with our local media and through schemes like CashBack our Community team are able to give local rugby clubs, schools and charitable organisations the opportunity to earn money by coming to watch the Saints play. This scheme continues to go from strength to strength, with hundreds of people coming every game.

“So we are certainly not resting on our laurels, and although we are delighted with the way the Northampton public has responded to us we are working hard to try and make sure that Franklin’s Gardens is full for our next home game against Exeter in two weeks’ time. The atmosphere for our two home matches so far has been outstanding and players and coaches throughout the country say that it makes the Gardens an intimidating place for opposition teams to play.

“And maintaining our capacity crowds is an excellent way to demonstrate to the relevant authorities the benefits of allowing the Saints to expand the stadium in the responsible manner we prefer.”

Hamilton set for Gloucester debut at the Madejski

Posted on Sep 17, 2010 in English Rugby, Premiership

Scottish international second row Jim Hamilton will make his debut for Gloucester Rugby as they travel to the Madejski Stadium for Sunday’s Aviva Premiership Rugby clash with London Irish.

Hamilton has been sidelined with a virus leaving him a frustrated spectator for Gloucester’s opening two fixtures but now packs down alongside Alex Brown in the second row.

Also returning to the starting line up is fellow Scotland international Alasdair Strokosch who starts at blindside with Brett Deacon moving across to number eight.

Able to call upon Hamilton’s services for the first time, Head Coach Bryan Redpath explained what he (Hamilton) will bring to the side.

“Jim’s another lineout option. He’s obviously a big man, he’s called lineouts for Scotland and Edinburgh and he takes a little bit of heat of Browny and puts a bit of heat on them as well.”

“He’s a big angry man. He’s 130kgs which hopefully he’s going to throw around. He’s here to be physical and that’s what we want.”

Talking to the media ahead of the game, Redpath was quick to pinpoint the key area of improvement from the first two games.

“Too many individual errors. I think 25 against Exeter and 17 last Saturday. We’re creating a huge amount of scoring opportunities but not finishing them off.”

“We’ve been far better than we have been previously defensively and in terms of discipline but need to show a little more patience and composure.”

“Irish are a good side. We’re playing away from home, four yellow cards last year down there. They have a dangerous back three. You kick poorly, you kick loosely and you’re going to get punished.”

“We have to have a very strong disciplined game to play against them. It’s a big challenge for us this weekend. But we need to be up for it. It’s about us and not all about the opposition.”

Gloucester Rugby:

Charlie Sharples; James Simpson-Daniel, Mike Tindall (capt), Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, Lesley Vainikolo; Nicky Robinson, Rory Lawson; Alasdair Dickinson, Scott Lawson, Pierre Capdevielle; Jim Hamilton, Alex Brown; Alasdair Strokosch, Andy Hazell, Brett Deacon

Replacements:

Olivier Azam, Nick Wood, Rupert Harden, Dave Attwood, Luke Narraway, Dave Lewis, Tim Taylor, Tim Molenaar 

Jim Greenwood passes away

Posted on Sep 16, 2010 in Scottish Rugby

Now Rugby is saddened to learn of the death of the former Scotland and British Lions back-row forward and pioneer of modern rugby coaching Jim Greenwood. He was 81.

Known as Mr Rugby in New Zealand, Greenwood arguably made a bigger impression as a coach than he had in a glittering playing career which saw him win 20 caps, captain his country and play in four Tests for the 1955 British Lions on their tour in South Africa.

Scotland head coach Andy Robinson was coached by Greenwood when he was a student at Loughborough Colleges. He said: “He was the first top-class coach I worked with and he had a fantastic way of simplifying the game.

“His book ‘Total Rugby’ showed that he was ahead of his time. He was a great inspiration for us as first year students at Loughborough where he lectured us, challenged us and made us think about the game.”

Born in Fife, James Thomas Greenwood was educated at Dunfermline High School and Edinburgh University and went on to play his club rugby for Dunfermline, Perthshire Accies and a brief spell with Harlequins.

As an openside flanker of tremendous pace, Greenwood won his first cap against France at Murrayfield in 1952, one of eight new caps in the Scotland team that day.

He was dropped after France won at Murrayfield for the first time and it was three years before he returned to international duty – once again against the French – this time as Scotland captain.

The following match Scotland defeated Wales 14-8 to end a run of 17 successive defeats with Greenwood’s rugby brain stamped large on proceedings.

His finest hour as a player probably came on the 1955 Lions tour to South Africa. He scored tries in the first and fourth Tests and newspaper reports of the period hailed his courage. He was “without equal among his contemporaries for a combination of skill, perception and deadly physical pace.”

Greenwood would have made a second Lions tour to New Zealand in 1959 had he not suffered a shoulder injury against Ireland – the last of his 20 caps in 1959.

One of the game’s greatest thinkers Greenwood embarked on a coaching career which saw him write two of the seminal works on the game – Total Rugby and Think Rugby.

Greenwood, whether at Loughborough Colleges or through those publications, was an inspiration to a generation of rugby coaches and players among them Andy Robinson, Sir Ian McGeechan and Sir Clive Woodward.

McGeechan said: “Jim Greenwood’s thinking was on a different level. As a student I read his books and it was clear he was an outstanding rugby thinker. He was way ahead of his time.”

McGeechan was honoured when Greenwood wrote to him to congratulate him both on Scotland’s 1990 Grand Slam and on his 1997 Lions series victory in South Africa.

On retirement from Loughborough, Greenwood and his wife Margot retired to the village of Crossmichael near Castle Douglas in Dumfriesshire though he still remained in demand as a rugby consultant worldwide.

Jim Greenwood passed away at Dumfries Royal Infirmary on Sunday and Scottish Rugby extends sincere sympathies to Margot and all his many friends.

Mallinder calls for Quins to be “switched on” at Saints

Posted on Sep 10, 2010 in English Rugby, Premiership

Director of rugby Jim Mallinder says that the Northampton Saints team that travels to Harlequins tomorrow will have to be switched on right from the first whistle.

The Saints opened their Aviva Premiership Rugby campaign with a win over Leicester last Sunday, and while the Saints boss was pleased with the start he said that the trip to the Twickenham Stoop represents a massive challenge for the team.

“Winning at home is always important but getting results away from home is vital if we’re going to finish at the top end of the Premiership table,” he said. “There were many aspects of last Sunday’s performance that were pleasing, especially the first five minutes.

“But we’ll have to do better against a Harlequins outfit that performed well against Wasps. Their team has an experienced backbone, especially at eight, nine and ten, and they have some exciting young talent too.”

The Saints have not won a league match at the Stoop since Mallinder took charge three years ago, even though they won the 2009 European Challenge Cup.

“I don’t know why we’ve had that record there,” Mallinder added. “Harlequins have good facilities and a good surface and you can play rugby. Two years ago we played badly and lost. Last year we played badly and lost, but we got a bonus point, so we’re actually going on an upward trend. Hopefully we can play a lot better this week, because we’ll have to if we’re going to get a win!”

You can watch interviews with Jim Mallinder and Lee Dickson previewing the trip to Harlequins on PremiershipRugby.tv, where you’ll also be able to listen to live commentary and follow all the text tracking on game day.

Saturday’s game is also being shown live on Sky Sports 1 and HD1, with coverage starting from 1pm.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY HARLEQUINS
Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 2
Twickenham Stoop
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Kick off 1:30pm
15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Bruce Reihana
10 Shane Geraghty
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga’uiha
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Christian Day
6 Phil Dowson
7 Tom Wood
8 Roger Wilson

Replacements
16 Brett Sharman
17 Regardt Dreyer
18 Euan Murray
19 Calum Clark
20 Mark Easter
21 Stuart Commins
22 Stephen Myler
23 Joe Ansbro

Laidlaw captains Edinburgh against Munster

Posted on Feb 18, 2010 in Rugby News

Greig Laidlaw will captain a new-look Edinburgh side for the trip to Magners League champions Munster on Friday evening (19 February, kick off 8pm, live on Setanta Ireland) and head coach Rob Moffat believes the scrum-half has the right skill-set to lead the side to a positive result.

Laidlaw, 24, signed a new two year contract with Edinburgh on Monday and has been rewarded with the captaincy for the trip to Cork to face the tournament title holders.

Moffat says that his elevation to captain was a logical choice and will lead to a seamless transition should replacement Mike Blair be introduced into the action during the game.

Moffat said: “Greig is playing consistently well and I think he is a natural leader.

“At scrum half, he is in a good position to captain the side and, with Mike on the bench, it means if we make the change then there is a straight swap.”

Laidlaw forms a half-back combination with David Blair, who makes his first appearance for Edinburgh since damaging his ankle against Bath in December.

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