Northampton Saints

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 20/11/2025 10:39 by Saint Ted.

What's happened to Will Glister? Hasn't played this season - looked impressive last year but now seems to have dropped to the bottom of the wingers list.

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North London Saint
What's happened to Will Glister? Hasn't played this season - looked impressive last year but now seems to have dropped to the bottom of the wingers list.

Has made 1 appearance for Cambridge in the Championship and named on the bench twice for them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 14/11/2025 13:16 by tigersimon.

Absolutely fantastic to see Furbank and Sleightholme back. The biggest thing is they come through unscathed with Ramm and Freeman injured. The likes of hot prospects Lumley and Pater will hopefully really benefit from starting with this quality around them.

You have to feel for Newcastle a little. With returns from injury Saints have selected 3 internationals in our backline. Our bench also looks strong.

Does anyone know anything about James Bennett?

14 away on international duty, kudos to the club!

Newcastle are bringing a serious side., Although you'd always fancy the Saints at home.

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Saint Maul
Absolutely fantastic to see Furbank and Sleightholme back. The biggest thing is they come through unscathed with Ramm and Freeman injured. The likes of hot prospects Lumley and Pater will hopefully really benefit from starting with this quality around them.
You have to feel for Newcastle a little. With returns from injury Saints have selected 3 internationals in our backline. Our bench also looks strong.

Does anyone know anything about James Bennett?

He's from Olney. He was in the academy alongside Craig Wright, Henry Pollock et al. He's now playing for Loughborough Uni in BUCS Super Rugby.

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North London Saint
What's happened to Will Glister? Hasn't played this season - looked impressive last year but now seems to have dropped to the bottom of the wingers list.

I'm confused by this too. I agree that he's looked very impressive, particularly against Newcastle away, at the end of last season. However, if he's finding it difficult to break in to a struggling Cambridge team, I guess that tells us where he is, in this stage of his development.

What’s happened to Tom Lockett
Thought he received international call up now showing as injured

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Deesaint
What’s happened to Tom Lockett
Thought he received international call up now showing as injured

Didn't watch the whole game but do recall him be cleaned out at a ruck and ending up in a bit of pain on the ground. Carried on playing IIRC but, when he first went down, it looked serious.

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Toulousian Firefighter

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Deesaint
What’s happened to Tom Lockett
Thought he received international call up now showing as injured

Didn't watch the whole game but do recall him be cleaned out at a ruck and ending up in a bit of pain on the ground. Carried on playing IIRC but, when he first went down, it looked serious.

Oh @#$%&

Fingers crossed it’s not too bad
Taking in my belief that Coles is a 6
TL and JJ are are a formidable partnership

Glister selected at 14 for Cambridge for their trip to Cornish Pirates.

Just turned on the radio for the commentary. What's with all the changes?
Furbank
Belleau
Slightholme

Please don’t tell me Furbs is injured again…

Planned subbing of furbs and sleights according to radiio Northampton.

Pretty disappointed with how saints approached that game having travelled 3 hours

Keeping the powder dry?

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Bucksaint
Planned subbing of furbs and sleights according to radiio Northampton.
Pretty disappointed with how saints approached that game having travelled 3 hours

In what way did the approach surprise/disappoint you?

We know that Dowson uses these games as extended high pressure training outings for the third/fourth choice players - I don't mean to belittle anyone by that comment, but!

Few would even make the bench for most league games. But they gained something no training will provide - real time experience against proper opposition.

More concerning TB went off injured

Tom Vickers said Tony B went off with a muscle injury. Anyone see how it looked?

That was a large crowd for a training session - 6/7k ? Once Bealleau, Furbs and Sleights went off, I cannot honestly say that any player would have caught my eye. Apart from a ten minute spell when two tries went over, it was pretty turgid stuff. Oh well, worse things happen etc

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Longers

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Bucksaint
Planned subbing of furbs and sleights according to radiio Northampton.
Pretty disappointed with how saints approached that game having travelled 3 hours

In what way did the approach surprise/disappoint you?

We know that Dowson uses these games as extended high pressure training outings for the third/fourth choice players - I don't mean to belittle anyone by that comment, but!

Few would even make the bench for most league games. But they gained something no training will provide - real time experience against proper opposition.

I guess my point is - that was saints A match, in a cup competition, in front of a paying crowd. I’m all for friendlies and B matches / loans etc to bring younger players on, but I’d like to have seen us go in much stronger (As sprinkled with Bs rather than vice versa). Precious few home games these days and season tickets don’t get cheaper.

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Bucksaint

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Longers

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Bucksaint
Planned subbing of furbs and sleights according to radiio Northampton.
Pretty disappointed with how saints approached that game having travelled 3 hours

In what way did the approach surprise/disappoint you?

We know that Dowson uses these games as extended high pressure training outings for the third/fourth choice players - I don't mean to belittle anyone by that comment, but!

Few would even make the bench for most league games. But they gained something no training will provide - real time experience against proper opposition.

I guess my point is - that was saints A match, in a cup competition, in front of a paying crowd. I’m all for friendlies and B matches / loans etc to bring younger players on, but I’d like to have seen us go in much stronger (As sprinkled with Bs rather than vice versa). Precious few home games these days and season tickets don’t get cheaper.

Who would you have brought in?

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Bucksaint

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Longers

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Bucksaint
Planned subbing of furbs and sleights according to radiio Northampton.
Pretty disappointed with how saints approached that game having travelled 3 hours

In what way did the approach surprise/disappoint you?

We know that Dowson uses these games as extended high pressure training outings for the third/fourth choice players - I don't mean to belittle anyone by that comment, but!

Few would even make the bench for most league games. But they gained something no training will provide - real time experience against proper opposition.

I guess my point is - that was saints A match, in a cup competition, in front of a paying crowd. I’m all for friendlies and B matches / loans etc to bring younger players on, but I’d like to have seen us go in much stronger (As sprinkled with Bs rather than vice versa). Precious few home games these days and season tickets don’t get cheaper.

It’s a really good point
And a difficult one to answer

Should supporters have a feeling of enjoyment and satisfaction after paying a good amount for season tickets

Against the clubs need to blood a few youngsters to test their quality

Fair to say that Falcons brought a experienced squad to play against our emerging guys

Where does the fault lie, Falcons because they just need to win a game to please their supporters and backers or Saints for playing a really inexperienced team

I share the frustrations tbh, there aren’t many home games for the money these days. What stood out for me is that if you plan to sub off two key backs at or before half time, you really need a strong Plan B. Especially so if you then have an injury in the backs. We looked rudderless once Tony was injured. No criticism of the inexperienced players but if you’re using games for experiments and/or reintroducing players you need to keep some sort of framework in place.

The PRC as a competition needs rules around it IMVHO.

Make it a development competition (U23?) with an exception for X players to allow injury returnees.


Planning for two back starters to play less than 40 is always going to make things difficult without Tony’s injury!

Not sure I agree with the sentiments echoed. We all love being a development club and having these youngsters coming through and being recognised at international level, in order for that to happen you have to use these competitions to blood the future players, its logical and necessary.

Dowse spoke the other day about two of our away games at the end of last season (Glaws and Exeter away) being really crucial games as we got to expose so many youngsters to the Prem and how he saw it as a massive 'fact finding' experience.

Trust the club, stick to the process.

Although I understand their approach, I'm more disappointed with Newcastle.

They needed a win, for Red Bull. We needed the exposure for our "Wanderers and Crusaders".

I do think that the comment regarding the removals of Furbs and Ollie are fair points. What really bothers me is that when we lost TB we lost direction. But then when we look at the number of players we had lost to International duty and injuries, I don't think we've faired too badly thus far.

Interested to see what we do for the next game on the roundabout.

With the return of the Prem the following week I expect to see two strong teams on Friday night at MWWR.

Saints
Hendy
Sleightholme
Litchfield
Thame
Caqusau

Furbank
McParland

Iyogun
Smith
Davison
Munga
Prowse
Pearson
Graham
Chick

Wright
West
Green
JJ
Brown
James
Pater
Lumley

Tigers
Bailey
Radwan
Perese
Woodward
OHC/GHW

Searle
JVP/Whitely

Haffar
Blamire (C)
Kofe/Loman
Henderson
Wells
Moro
Reffell
Liebenberg

Clare
AVDF
Loman/Maka
T. Manz
J. Manz
Whiteley/Allan
Wand
Pearson

Rugby paper reporting ydays attendance as 12945. Not according to NGSB who estimated 6-7K.
Which was it?

The rugby paper figure probably included all the season tickets.

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Longers
Although I understand their approach, I'm more disappointed with Newcastle.

Out of interest, what would you like us to do? Our academy players have been stripped by other prem clubs over the last few years. We played three first team players in that game. I think you also started two or three? We were giving game time to a lot of players that hadn’t started many games this season. Whilst resting our better players. The cup games are about keeping the wider squad happy rather than just playing youngsters. Our first 15 I have named below is probably our strongest 15. I’ve put a star next to the players that started yesterday.

I travelled a long way yesterday and paid a lot of money to watch my team compete. No offence but if we just played the kids I probably wouldn’t have gone down. Northampton wouldn’t have got the ticket revenue from my ticket sale either.

Brockelbank
McGuigan*
Bello
Clarke
Hodgson*
Lee Warner
Christie
Mafi
Benitez Cruz
Chamberlain
Coetzee (Wade next month)
Arnold
Clark
Hearle*
Williams

It's a competition that all clubs look at and treat differently as is their right. For some clubs this might be their only realistic chance to win any silverware or get to a final, and that shouldn't be underestimated. For other clubs it's more about testing their squad depth and give valuable minutes to academy players. Neither is right or wrong, just different clubs at different stages in their journeys.

If we had played more of our regular first teamers yesterday I think it would have been counter productive, for N'castle they need to use it to generate some momentum and give a very new squad more minutes together - can't really bemoan them for that.

One cannot for one moment cast any stones towards Newcastle for any disappointment we may feel for last nights performance. This was a Wanderers team playing in a competition that some call a development contest. Had this been an A league game on a Monday night, those who attended would have shrugged their shoulders at full time and forgotten about it by the time they got back to their cars. However, it wasn’t an A league game and it was played in front of a decent crowd who perhaps expected a better performance than we saw hence some aforesaid disappointment. As good as it was to see two England Internationals back on the pitch, their cameos were short with hopefully more to come on Friday at Welford Road. You can be sure that Tigers will take the game seriously.

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Northumbrian13

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Longers
Although I understand their approach, I'm more disappointed with Newcastle.

Out of interest, what would you like us to do? Our academy players have been stripped by other prem clubs over the last few years. We played three first team players in that game. I think you also started two or three? We were giving game time to a lot of players that hadn’t started many games this season. Whilst resting our better players. The cup games are about keeping the wider squad happy rather than just playing youngsters. Our first 15 I have named below is probably our strongest 15. I’ve put a star next to the players that started yesterday.

I travelled a long way yesterday and paid a lot of money to watch my team compete. No offence but if we just played the kids I probably wouldn’t have gone down. Northampton wouldn’t have got the ticket revenue from my ticket sale either.

Brockelbank
McGuigan*
Bello
Clarke
Hodgson*
Lee Warner
Christie
Mafi
Benitez Cruz
Chamberlain
Coetzee (Wade next month)
Arnold
Clark
Hearle*
Williams

Fair point - and given the players we've knicked off you, I suppose I shouldn't carp!

[. Our first 15 I have named below is probably our strongest 15. I’ve put a star next to the players that started yesterday.

I travelled a long way yesterday and paid a lot of money to watch my team compete. No offence but if we just played the kids I probably wouldn’t have gone down. Northampton wouldn’t have got the ticket revenue from my ticket sale either.

Brockelbank
McGuigan*
Bello
Clarke
Hodgson*
Lee Warner
Christie
Mafi
Benitez Cruz
Chamberlain
Coetzee (Wade next month)
Arnold
Clark
Hearle*
Williams[/quote]

Of course, Brocklebank and Max Clark were on the bench. Looking through your 23 yesterday, over half have played several times in your league side this year and another two are very recent signings who will be likely first choices.

Still not sure what you want us to do. We have the smallest squad in the league and have 18 injuries according to the unavailable for selection list. Most of our younger talent left when they thought the club would no longer exist such as Redshaw, Johnson and Brantingham who were playing for other clubs cup sides this season. We only managed to put a squad together this September.

We haven’t been able to afford to retain much of our academy players unfortunately. Hopefully that will change. We haven’t won many games over the last three years so it’s nice for the club to provide us with one once in a while.

You’re at the top of the league and will want to stay there so I get why you might not have played any first team squad players. Unfortunately we aren’t in your position and don’t have that luxury.

Furbank
Sleightholme
Belleau
Manfredi

All internationals

Munga, West, Green, James, Weimann, Taylor and Gtaham have all played countless 1st team matches.

I understand that minutes were managed and injuries were unfortunate. Yes, we played a number of fringe and academy players, but all the players should have an eye on the 1st team. Pollock and Smith have shown that age is no barrier and what can be achieved so soon out of the academy.

Had we have won, none of these comments would have been made.

Ultimately, we should have been better.

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St Stokey.
Furbank
Sleightholme
Belleau
Manfredi

All internationals

Munga, West, Green, James, Weimann, Taylor and Gtaham have all played countless 1st team matches.

I understand that minutes were managed and injuries were unfortunate. Yes, we played a number of fringe and academy players, but all the players should have an eye on the 1st team. Pollock and Smith have shown that age is no barrier and what can be achieved so soon out of the academy.

Had we have won, none of these comments would have been made.

Ultimately, we should have been better.

Can't argue with that !

I guess that not playing together all the time doesn't help, and that we will be better for the loss at some point, and winning runs have to come to an end at some point, and that Newcastle did bring a more "grown-up" side - but we should have done better.

Moving on !

How pivotal was the loss of TB?

Fully understand Dowson’s selections and also Newcastle’s predicament plus wanting to get game time into new arrivals.

But this just sums up the PRC for me! Apart from being a cash cow and to add matches on to a season ticket the whole cup competition has no purpose!
1. Watch the same Prem teams again!
2. No rules on development selection (certainly not in the pools)
3. Now a preseason, warm up for restart of league.
4. Certain teams think they did the Treble because they won it and the second tier European competition!!

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tigersimon
2. No rules on development selection (certainly not in the pools)

I'd even go so far as to say that the rules run contrary to the PRC being a developement competition, because if a player doesn't play in the pool section they can't play in the knockout sections. So, if you're serious about winning the PRC and your more senior/experienced players haven't featured by by R4, you'll be shuffling the developmental players to one side to make space for this. I think I'm right in saying that Friday's game between Tigers and Saints is potentially winner takes all in terms of qualification for the knockout section, so I'd expect much stronger teams from both than have been put out in the earlier rounds of the competition.

There are still the 4 return fixtures to play after Friday.
We may well see more first-choice players playing on Friday in both terms, but that will depend on the workload they have had and their state of preparedness for the league game the following week.

It think it is top 2 qualify with top being at home

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