Diggin, 25, has spent his whole professional career at his home-town club. The winger made his first team debut while still in the Saints Academy in 2003/04; six years later he is closing in rapidly on his hundredth appearance.

He is also third in the current squad’s table of try scorers with 41 efforts to his name, with two coming in the last two games as Diggin helped the team reach the semi-finals of the LV= Cup. He is also the only Saint to have scored five tries in a single league match, against Sedgley Park in 2007/08.

The new deal is Diggin’s third with the Saints, and he had no qualms about staying in Northampton.

“Northampton has been my home and Saints have been a big part of my life for nine years so it’s good to be signing again for the club,” he said. “When you look around the team I’m now one of the oldest in the squad. That’s the way it is at the club now – we’ve got a young, enthusiastic group of players that is massively ambitious. Competition is the best thing for the squad. There are four competitive players who all want to play in the back three. It can only be good for the team and give the coaches a headache when it comes to selection.

“The coaches have built a squad that can compete in every competition and we are in the running for all three competitions. We’ve also got stability, which has been much needed. There have definitely been some good times and some bad times since I’ve been at the club but we’re in the top four of the Guinness Premiership and in the quarter finals of the Heineken Cup.

“Hopefully we can kick on now, and not be looking over our shoulders.”

“Paul is a determined player who gives a hundred percent for the team,” said director of rugby Jim Mallinder. “Northampton is his home-town club and it is obvious how much he enjoys playing in the first team. Over the past two years he has shown that he knows the way to the try line, and having players like him around helps keep the standards in the squad high. We are happy that he is staying at the club.”