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11 hours ago
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Northampton is not the most exotic destination on the planet, but there is plenty of romance and adventure in its rugby union team.
In a town famous for boot-making you might expect kicking, as frequently and as far as possible, to be the Saints’ modus operandi. But under the director of rugby, Phil Dowson, the team in green, black and gold prefer to keep ball in hand. Despite representing a quintessentially English town, they display a panache synonymous with the greatest French exponents of champagne rugby.
Since Dowson and the head coach, Sam Vesty, took over in 2022, Northampton have won the Prem and gone deep in the Champions Cup – losing to Bordeaux-Bègles in last season’s final, knocked out by Leinster in a semi-final before that.
They top the table after four wins and a draw and travel to Bristol on Saturday as the only unbeaten side, seeking a first win at Ashton Gate since 2021. It would be natural to think Dowson, who played 262 top-flight matches for Newcastle, Northampton and Worcester combined, always planned to be a coach.
“When I played I never seriously considered it,” he says. “But as you get older you realise how much you enjoy the game, and what the real world looks like. I spent some time at Metro Bank doing work experience. You do the commute a few times, and it was tough – you realise what you do and don’t have.”
Conversations with Dusty Hare and Jim Mallinder led to a role at Northampton. Fast-forward eight years and Dowson leads a squad increasingly crammed with internationals: Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall, Alex Mitchell and Alex Coles started for England against the All Blacks two weeks ago.
Henry Pollock also had a profound impact off the bench in England’s perfect autumn while Fin Smith, in time, will inherit the No 10 jersey. Is the emergence of this remarkable generation attributable to the Saints’ culture, or is it luck?
“It is a bit of both,” says Dowson. “I’d credit [the former director of rugby] Chris Boyd who basically just threw them in, and we had some tough days. But the experience they had as a group is undoubtedly one of the reasons they are so tight and so talented.”
Dowson also namechecks Mallinder, another predecessor at Franklin’s Gardens, as a major influence. “I’ve been fortunate to be coached by really interesting people,” he says. “Jim had a big impact on my career, my coaching, how I deal with people.”
Saints play attractive rugby, which proved literally true in the case of Anthony Belleau, the fly-half who joined in the summer. The Frenchman was part of the Clermont XV beaten in the Champions Cup in April when Freeman scored a hat-trick. Belleau liked what he saw enough to reverse the trend of English talent heading across the Channel.
“A mate phoned me and said: ‘There’s a French 10 who’s looking for a club,’ Dowson says. “I said we don’t have money for a French fly-half. [Thomas] Ramos will have to wait.
“‘He’s looking for experience, for the opportunity to test himself,’ my friend said. That interested me. We spoke to Anthony and his English was incredible, he was eloquent, he had a sense of humour.
“We asked: ‘What do you want from this?’ He said to be coached, to be pushed, to be outside his comfort zone and outside the Top 14. I was like: come on in, you’re a legend of a man. And he has been. We’re lucky to have him.”
Dowson says the 20-year-old Pollock brings a specific energy. Has he coached anyone like him? “No,” Dowson replies. “Everyone’s original but Henry is different and unique in many ways. He’s not afraid to be himself.”
Pollock’s sensational try against Leinster last season illustrated his freakish ability, but some of his demonstrative on-field antics have brought accusations of arrogance.
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“He sometimes comes across as arrogant in his actions, but he’s not,” Dowson says. “And Henry’s not taking the piss the whole time. Tactically he has input – he’s not a clown. I think sometimes it’s portrayed that he’s just this idiot. But he’s bright and good fun to have around.”
Few directors of rugby would describe themselves as having a “bromance” with a head coach, but that is how Dowson frames his relationship with Vesty.
“Sam and I share an inquisitiveness around different things,” he says. “We have a book club. He wants to see everything, wants to know everything, wants to experience different things, and I feel like I’m the same.
“We talk about lots of things outside rugby: films, books, ideas, art. When we played Stade [Français] last year, Notre-Dame was being done up, so we had a little wander around.”
Another date in France is looming: Northampton’s reacquaintance with the Prem will be brief because the Champions Cup intervenes next week. Pau, in the shadow of the Pyrenees, are up first on Sunday week before the Bulls visit a week later.
“I’m not going to be arrogant enough to say: ‘We’re going to win the Champions Cup.’ But it’s a special tournament because we do things that are new,” Dowson says.
“We’d never been to South Africa before. We played and won on the Highveld [against the Bulls last December] with all that heritage. We’ve not been to Pau before. We’re going to play Bordeaux away [in January], which we haven’t done for years.
“These are the exciting parts of the season when we can really get carried away with that journey. Travel, spend time, have a beer afterwards. But the bread and butter of the season, of course, is the league. We haven’t won at Bristol for so long and we want to put that to bed. We want to stay at the top because we were so disappointingly inconsistent last season.”
Short-term and long-term goals have been established. Considering Northampton’s form, the tutelage of Dowson and a dynamic, hungry playing group, it seems unwise to bet against them being achieved.
