NORTHAMPTON
SAINTS
ACADEMY
BUILDING A BRIGHT
FUTURE AT
FRANKLIN’S GARDENS
SAINTS ACADEMY
SAINTS ACADEMY
KEY VALUES
PRIDE AND PASSION
We have a pride in our club and its rich heritage and tradition. We have a passion for rugby and a desire
to leave a legacy in the club’s name for future generations
WELCOME
The Northampton Saints Academy is regarded as one of the very best in
England.
TRUST, LOYALTY AND TEAMWORK
We recognise the strengths of teamwork. We will support our colleagues and reap the benefits of their
trust and loyalty. Our whole club is a team
HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND RESPECT
We will be honest in our dealings with others and with ourselves. Errors may be made but an honest
appraisal will allow us to ensure that they are not repeated. We will be respectful to others at all times,
including our opponents on the pitch. We will earn respect from others for the quality and integrity of
our dealings with them
EXCELLENCE
We will strive for excellence in all we do and aim to deliver an exceptional experience for everyone who
comes into contact with Northampton Saints
CHALLENGE AND INNOVATION
We will constantly challenge ourselves and others, listening to and learning from feedback as we strive
to improve our performance. We will not be afraid of being different and innovative, and are always
willing to back our judgement. We are eager to get things done and achieve our objectives
Everyone at the club is rightly proud of this recognition,
which has come from the hard work and dedication of
coaches, staff, parents, teachers and players alike. As a
member of the Saints Academy you will be following in the
footsteps of some of the best players to have ever played
rugby union, including World War heroes, British and Irish
Lions legends, and Rugby World Cup winners.
Full international honours may seem a long way off now,
but it was not that long ago that Junior World Champions
like Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, Tom Stephenson, Howard
Packman and Jordan Onojaife where were you are now, as
teenagers looking to prove themselves in an Elite Player
Development Group.
Northampton Saints has a track record of giving
opportunities to those players who not just have talent, but
who also have the right attitude and work ethic and who
want to succeed.
The entire Saints Academy staff is dedicated to helping
each player be the very best that they can be, regardless of
whether they become a full-time professional or not.
And even if your path does not finish in a contract at
Franklin’s Gardens, an increasing number of players are
finding opportunities at other clubs who recognise the
value in spending time within the Saints Academy system.
Above all, the club wants every player in the Saints
system - from youngsters in the Elite Player Development
Groups and Developing Player Programme up to seasoned
internationals - to enjoy their rugby and to be the best that
they can be.
SAINTS ACADEMY
SAINTS ACADEMY
WHERE WE WORK
PATHWAY
The Saints Academy has been structured to provide a clear pathway of
progression to develop each individual as a player and person to the best
of their abilities.
With such a large geographical spread - it takes around three hours to
drive from one end of the Academy area to the other - the club has created
a number of satellite centres to ensure that players within the Academy
have all the support they need.
EAST MIDLANDS
RUGBY UNION
EASTERN COUNTIES
RUGBY UNION
Historically, many of the country’s top international
players have donned the EMRU’s traditional dark
green. and until recently, the EMRU team participated
in one of rugby’s oldest and most historic fixtures, the
Mobbs Memorial Match.
Ongoing development of the Saints Academy means
that the club is now in a position to put more resources
into the Eastern Counties region. Players have already
graduated through the EPDG into the full-time ranks Mike Haywood one of many.
While the fixture is now rotated between the Saints
and Bedford - the East Midlands’ two biggest clubs the EMRU still has a hands-on management role.
The ECRU includes Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and
Norfolk, the first two of those counties in the Saints
Academy region.
With 138 years of history, Olney RFC is one of the
oldest rugby clubs in England and club side to Saints
war heroes Edgar Mobbs and Blair Swannell, as well as
Ray Longland (356 Saints appearances).
Their home at Doffs Field has five full sized pitches as
well as a spacious bar area and clubhouse, all of which
are utilised by the East Midlands EPDG.
SAINTS
ACADEMY
JUNIOR SAINTS
ACADEMY
U17-18
Players selected from EPDG and scouting
network
EPDG
ELITE PLAYER DEVELOPMENT GROUP
U14-16
Players selected from sub-counties and
DPP and identified by Saints scouts
and coaches
SUB-COUNTIES &
DEVELOPING PLAYER PROGRAMME
Northampton Alliance, Hunts & Peterborough,
East Northants, Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Suffolk
EPDG CENTRES
OLNEY RFC
PLAYER PATHWAY
THROUGH SCHOOLS AND
SENIOR
CLUBS TO THE SAINTS
U13-U16 | U18
STOWMARKET RFC
Stowmarket Rugby Club has made great leaps forward
over the past few years both on the playing side and
development of the club’s facilities.
Based at Chilton Fields Sports Club, Stowmarket
can boast not only several full sized rugby pitches on
natural turf, but also an all-weather pitch and a stateof-the-art clubhouse, built as recently as 2009.
SAINTS COMMUNITY
Schools / Clubs
U13-U16
Players nominated by school
and club coaches
SAINTS ACADEMY
SAINTS ACADEMY
ALUMNI
INTERNATIONALS
Over the past few years, dozens of players have passed through the Saints
Academy system and into the first team at Franklin’s Gardens. Such is the
quality currently being produced by the club though, many players who
don’t earn full-time contracts with the Saints have still gone on to succeed
elsewhere, both in England and across Europe.
A long list of junior Saints have worn the colours of their country, from
Under-16 level up to Under-20. Eight have won an Under-18 European
Title, three have woin the Under-20 Six Nations and five are Junior World
Champions.
Harry Sheppard
Ollie Lyons
Wasps
Conor Bullivant
George Cox
Nottingham
George Wacokecoke
Bath
John Hawkins
Bristol
ENGLAND U18
Karl Wilkins
Clermont
Lewis Jones
Ryan Eveleigh
Yorkshire
Dan Lewis
Jake Byrne
Oyonnax
Ulster
SCOTLAND U18
Will Allman
Reece Marshall *
Tim Cardall
Alex Moon
James Fish *
Josh Peters *
SCOTLAND U20
John Hawkins
Rotimi Segun *
Rory Hutchinson
Harry Mallinder *
Josh Skelcey *
Gregor Haldane
ENGLAND U20
Mike Haywood **
Ben Nutley **
Alex Day **/***
IRELAND U18S
Jamie Elliott **
Tom Collins
Jake Byrne
Tom Stephenson */**/***
Jordan Onojaife */***
Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi */**/***
Lewis Ludlam
Danny Herriott */**
Sam Olver ***
Will Hooley **/***
Howard Packman */**/***
*U18 EUROPEAN CHAMPION
**U20 SIX NATIONS WINNER
***JUNIOR WORLD CHAMPION
LONG-TERM
ACADEMY PLAYER
ATHLETE DEVELOPMENT
The objective of the Performance Department is to prepare the junior
athlete to successfully compete within the senior competitive arena. It
is increasingly important that players arrive into the full-time ranks of
the Senior Academy ready to compete with the older players within the
squad at Franklin’s Gardens both mentally and physically.
SUPPORT SYSTEMS
Once a player advances into the Saints Academy a number of support
systems are put in place, including physiotherapy programmes and
strength and conditioning regimes.
PHYSIOTHERAPY
From an EPDG level, physiotherapy advice is provided
to youngsters within the Academy system by a dedicated
team of experts at the club.
Help includes not only physiotherapy itself, but also injury
management advice, player screening, rehabilitation
programmes, weekly injury clinics and various activities
to help with physical development, including Pilates,
osteopathy and podiatry.
STRENGTH AND CONDITIONING
To achieve this, a model of long term athlete development
(LTAD) is utilised. With the use of correct assessment
methods players can be appropriately grouped based on
biological development and individual growth as opposed
to age.
support systems.
This requires collaboration between technical coaches,
sports medicine, sports science and athletic development
long term athlete development, the outcome will then take
A joined-up approach must be athlete centred with their
specific individual needs highlighted and developed in a
systematic way. The focus needs to be on the process of
care of itself.
In order to give the youngsters the best possible chance of becoming a Saints player, the below steps
are in place:
Strength and conditioning covers many areas of a player’s
development, from the way they prepare for a match to the
time they spend resting after, and everything in between.
The Saints’ strength and conditioning team ensure
that all players have a well-managed workload to avoid
unnecessary injuries or exhaustion.
As the age of a player increases, a progressive plan is
tailored and put in place to ensure that each individual is
physically ready for the rigours of a career in professional
rugby.
Everything from nutrition to the way a player runs is
monitored and adjusted where necessary.
FUNDAMENTALS (6-10yrs; 100% training ratio)
STEP TWO Consolidation (15-17yrs; 50%/50% training to competition ratio)
STEP ONE A Corner Stone of Physical Competence (10-15yrs; 75%/25% training
to competition ratio)
STEP THREE Bridging the Gap to the Full-Time Athlete (17yrs+; 25%/75% training
to competition ratio)
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS
A BRIEF HISTORY
For 135 years Northampton Saints has been one of the top rugby clubs
in England, and as a member of the Saints Academy you will have the
opportunity to follow in the footsteps of some of the most talented players
to have ever played the sport.
SAINTS ACADEMY
KEY DATES
TRAINING PERIODS
The Under-18s have a busy August programme which
includes training and matches against other Aviva
Premiership and Pro 12 clubs. They then train once per
week during the Christmas term, with more matches in
the October half-term, and then continue training into the
New Year.
Elite Player Development Groups assemble in late
August, and then train regularly until late November. The
Developing Player Programme groups are selected in
September, with training sessions then held during the
course of the season.
The Saints’ age group teams will play regularly during the
year, with fixtures concentrated in the school holidays.
PREMIERSHIP RUGBY
ACADEMIES LEAGUE
From our first international Harry Weston in 1901 and
Edgar Mobbs – also the first Saint to captain England –
through British and Irish Lions legends from the 1950s and
60s Jeff Butterfield and Dickie Jeeps, Rugby World Cup
winners Ben Cohen, Matt Dawson, Steve Thompson and
Paul Grayson, to modern-day household names including
George North, Dylan Hartley, Courtney Lawes and Tom
Wood, the Saints has established a lasting legacy as a home
for greatness.
Full international honours or a place on a British and Irish
Lions tour may seem a long way off at the moment, but it
was not that long ago that Junior World Champions Danny
Hobbs-Awoyemi, Tom Stephenson, Jordan Onojaife and
Sam Olver were also part of the Saints Academy system
themselves.
Over the subsequent years the Saints would go on to
entrench this place at the top of English rugby, and by the
1950s and 60s – guided by Gordon Sturtridge, a player,
coach and president who was way ahead of his time – the
team was playing some of the best rugby you would see
anywhere.
The 1980s were somewhat harder on the club, prompting
a revolution behind the scenes and the appointment of the
first professional director of rugby in the English game,
Barrie Corless. Over the next few seasons the Saints would
come within a whisker of winning both the cup and the
league, but while silverware eluded them then the new
century opened with Pat Lam and Tim Rodber lifting the
Heineken European Cup.
This, too, is a continuation of a long-held tradition at
Northampton Saints, which was originally founded in 1880
as part of a boys’ improvement class by the curate of St
James’ Church in Northampton, Reverend Samuel Wathan
Wigg.
At the same time the club was also undergoing significant
change off the field. Led by owner Keith Barwell, Franklin’s
Gardens – which has been the home of the Saints since the
late 1800s – underwent a total re-build that underpinned
financial stability and profitability that continues to this day
and is unique in English professional sport.
Back in those days the Saints was just one of many rugby
clubs in Northampton, but it quickly emerged as the best
in the town and regularly coming up against some of the
best teams in the world, such as the 1905 All Blacks, known
as The Originals. This was also the first game in which the
Saints wore black, gold and green, now some of the most
famous and recognisable colours anywhere in world club
rugby.
In the last decade this off-field success has been matched
on it, with two European Challenge Cups in 2009 and
2014, the LV= Cup in 2010 and the Aviva Premiership
title itself in 2014. All in all there have been nine cup finals
in eight years, and with director of rugby Jim Mallinder
committed to the sustainable and ongoing development of
the club’s squad, there is a bright future at Northampton
Saints.
The Premiership Rugby Academies League is a centrallyorganised tournament featuring all 12 Aviva Premiership
clubs, plus RFU Academies based at Bristol and Yorkshire.
The clubs are divided into Northern and Southern
Conferences (each comprising seven teams), with each club
playing every other in its Conference once during January
and February (i.e. six games).
The top three clubs then play their equivalent from the
other Conference (i.e. first v first, second v second, etc) at
Finals Day.
DECISION TIME!
Player reviews are held regularly during the course of
the season, and players in the Under-13 to Under-16
age range may move between Elite Player Development
Groups and the Developing Player Programme (and vice
versa) depending on how they are progressing.
Selection for the subsequent season’s Junior Saints
Academy (Under-18s) will take place after the Premiership
Rugby Academies League has finished in February.
While the club’s staff appreciates that decisions made to
release players will be disappointing to the individuals and
their families, it does not mean that the boy concerned will
not get another opportunity if he then meets the required
standard at a later point.
Full-time Senior Academy contracts are offered to suitable
Junior Saints Academy at the end of February.
SAINTS ACADEMY
KEY CONTACTS
DUSTY HARE
ACADEMY AND
RECRUITMENT MANAGER
[email protected]
MARK HOPLEY
ACADEMY HEAD COACH
[email protected]
07540 977192
07584 632697
PAUL DIGGIN
JON CURRY
ACADEMY COACH
ACADEMY COACH
[email protected]
[email protected]
07730 689668
07711 372007
ROSS STEWART
SIMON SINCLAIR
EPDG MANAGER
EAST MIDLANDS
EPDG MANAGER
EASTERN COUNTIES
[email protected]
[email protected]
07826 865498
07787 436489
KATHARINE BURROWS
ACADEMY ADMINISTRATOR
[email protected]
01604 599161