By Louisa Loveluck
March 20 2005

At the beginning of the season, of the squad that won the pre-season friendlies and the matches against Bath and Harlequins, just over half of the starting line-up was British.

However, fast forward a few weeks to our disastrous losing run and at times, less than a third of our squad hailed from these shores. Furthermore, since the appointment of Budge and Grays, the number of British players has once again risen and the balance has been re-addressed.

 

So, you recruit a squad solely made up of home nations players... problem solved! Or not…

 

Where would we be without our overseas players, without the likes of Pat Lam, Andrew Blowers or Buck Shelford? Who was player of the year and the top premiership try scorer last season? Bruce Reihana. Who has arguably been our standout player in the dark days of this season? Matt Lord.

 

 

In my opinion, the problem is not where the players come from, it is whether they buy into the Saints mindset or not. Without really believing and trusting in their team mates, no individual player is ever going to prosper – rugby is a team game, no one can win it alone.

 

One major factor in the success of a squad is the quality of its academy. The best academies will be able to produce a ‘conveyor belt’ of players to its senior squads, identifying talent and bringing it through the ranks. One of the Zurich Premiership’s best examples of such an academy is that of the Leicester Tigers as it has supplies a constant stream of good, quality players into the first team, providing consistency and stability within the squad. The Tigers’ academy has provided them with immense strength in depth – when Andy Goode was injured earlier this season, Ross Broadfoot was able to successfully make the step-up into the first team. Later on in the year when Broadfoot was also injured, Sam Vesty was able to step into the breach and he looks to be a great talent for the future.

Another advantage to a good academy system is the club loyalty that it breeds.

 

However, as both Leicester and Sale have found, there is a problem with having so many home-nation players of such a high quality – when the international matches come around, the squad suffers so many international call-ups that it becomes severely depleted.

The answer to this problem appears to be to have quality overseas backup – the difference between the Tigers and many other clubs is that even though they may have equal numbers of foreign players, our friends at Welford Road have recruited overseas backups of the highest quality whereas their Zurich Premiership compatriot clubs have often settled for the mediocre.

 

And of course, the academy is not always the answer. As Ajack has so rightly pointed out, the year that Bristol were relegated, they had one of the best academies in the country. And then there’s the point about last year’s A-league final. Which two teams were contesting for the title? Harlequins and Saints, and where are they now?

 

But there is one major factor that I have still not mentioned – the coach. No matter how good your squad is, the team is never going to win anything if they don’t buy into what the coach is trying to achieve. This is something that we have already seen this season with the club’s four month association with Alan Solomons. Solomons' style of play and his method of man management did not fit with that of the Saints and so, after a disastrous run of eleven losses and much unrest behind the scenes, he was shown the door. Now, under Budge Pountney and Paul Grayson we have two men who fully understand the ethos of the club and what it stands for, and for that reason, we now have a much happier dressing room.

There’s no doubt about it, a coach has to ‘click’ with his players. If he doesn’t connect with his squad then he’s onto a loser, whatever his past record. Before he came to Saints, Alan Solomons’ record was exemplary and he is highly regarded in his native South Africa. However, his style of management was not right for our club and the results on the pitch ultimately appear to have been a reflection of this.

 

In short, it does not matter where a player comes from, as long as they are willing to fight for our cause and their style of play fits in with that of the Saints. Long term, it appears that the best option is to follow the ‘Leicester Tigers model’ with a good academy and quality backup players who turn up, week in, week out, providing a stable core for the club.

 

This summer’s recruitment drive is going to be crucial to our position next season. We do not want to bring in too many new players; instead we should be aiming to build on the squad that we have already got, increasing out strength in depth and recruiting in the crucial positions in which we have been lacking since the retirements of John Leslie, Budge Pountney and, more recently, Corne Krige.

One vital question that needs to be answered is this: do we give Darren Fox or Mark Soden a chance at making the no. 7 shirt their own or do we bring in an out-and-out 7 in the mould of Neil Back, Budge Pountney or Richie McCaw?

If we stick with the players that we’ve already got, are we sure that they have all the attributes to make it as an open side flanker? And if we do hand one of them the no. 7 shirt, do we need to recruit backup, just in case?

 

It’s all about balance. A squad purely comprising of older players might not have the hunger that they need to survive in the premiership, but equally, a squad full of young players will lack the experience. We need to find the right mix of both with a good steady flow of home nation players from the academy, supplemented by quality overseas backup players to provide a solid core. Since the appointment of Budge and Grays, there has been a greater willingness to blood new players and with Rob Hunter's newfound position as academy director, we are now seeing encouraging signs of this starting to happen and I believe that we are finally, albeit slowly and steadily, moving in the right direction.

Long may it continue.

 

Louisa Loveluck