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It may sound strange but the moment that best reflects Northampton’s collective mindset took place late at night in their club captain’s bedroom the other week. George Furbank was fast asleep in bed when, suddenly, he awoke to find several uninvited “guests” in his house and a video camera filming his reaction. Saints’ backs have been playing a game called Our House, based on the television show Through the Keyhole, and their senior coaches have also been joining in the fun.
Even on the eve of a massive final, Sam Vesty, Northampton’s head coach, needs little encouragement to tell the story. “We broke in at one o’clock in the morning. Fraser Dingwall, Fin Smith and myself, filmed by Dingers’ girlfriend, went in and shocked him. Boom. We woke him up and he had to do this quiz. Fin came in and he had another challenge. I came in with my tennis balls and said: ‘Right we are going to get better, Furbs.’ We took a video of it all and showed it around.”
Typical “sports jock” humour? Or something much more fundamental? If Saints can delight their travelling Shoe Army fanbase by waltzing past Bordeaux-Bègles in the Champions Cup final in Cardiff, they will argue that enjoyment and a close squad bond have been essential ingredients. There may be bigger, better resourced teams but none that are happier in each other’s company.
You can tell simply by watching them play. Many finals – as underlined in Bilbao this week – are cagey and dull. This one has the ingredients to be a free‑wheeling riot. Bordeaux, with Louis Bielle‑Biarrey and Damian Penaud lurking on their wings, need no second invitation to run. Northampton, though, are wired up similarly. Any side capable of scoring five tries against a full‑strength Leinster in Dublin in a huge semi-final can really play. The only question is whether they can conjure something equally magical in Cardiff.
Which is where Vesty comes in. There are several reasons why the 43-year-old former England international – he won two caps on tour in Argentina in 2009 – is among the country’s most enlightened attacking thinkers and his self-titled role as “space coach” is just one example. For him, even the biggest games ultimately hinge on mental freedom and coaches empowering gifted players. Or as Vesty puts it: “Imagine telling Lionel Messi how to pass the ball. It’s just stupid. Alex Mitchell is that good. Why would I try and tell him?”
Woe betide anyone, certainly, who solely praises the tactical masterclass Saints produced to confound Leinster’s blitz defence without also citing their all‑important can-do attitude. “It’s so interesting the way everyone talks about the tactical bit. If you’ve got good decision-makers throughout the team that’s way more powerful than any move or coach-driven tactic. That’s all crap … it’s about them being really good rugby players.
“I just think it’s arrogance as a coach to think: ‘Oh yes, I came up with this.’ It’s great in the paper because you can draw a diagram of it but it’s short-lived. Actually, it’s Alex Mitchell making really good decisions at the line, Henry Pollock seeing space and backing himself to go and take it, Fin Smith seeing space on the edge, calling for the ball and then executing his skills. It’s not a tactic.”
By now something else should be clear: Saints are not tiptoeing towards Cardiff, where they lost to Leinster in the 2011 final. While they are desperate to lift the coveted trophy for the first time since 2000 – their former captain Pat Lam and a host of other players from that era will be in attendance – retreating into their shells would run counter to everything they hold dear. “Ultimately we’re going to win a game by being the best of Northampton Saints,” Vesty says. “That’s what we pride ourselves on, that’s the way we attack every game.”
Easier said than done for most coaches in weeks such as this but Vesty and his co-conspirator Phil Dowson, having guided the club to last season’s Premiership title, believe a large chunk of their job is knowing when to take a step back and allow the players to chase their own destiny. “It’s 100% about decluttering players’ minds and not getting in the way,” Vesty says. “That could sound quite laissez‑faire but it’s not. I’m hard on some elements but on others there has to be room to make mistakes. No one is going to learn to drive a car without stalling it, are they? So why on our rugby journey do we expect everything to be executed perfectly? It seems mental.”
It clearly helps to have four British & Irish Lions on the team sheet in Mitchell, Smith, Tommy Freeman and their resident boy wonder Pollock but Dingwall’s unselfish example and smart leadership in Furbank’s absence has also proved pivotal. This season alone Saints have won away in Loftus Versfeld, Thomond Park and the Aviva Stadium, three of rugby’s most daunting venues. Keeping calm and carrying on has become their super skill.
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Not that it will be remotely easy against Bordeaux, who swept past the holders, Toulouse, in this month’s other semi. This may be their first Champions Cup final but few sides are more lethal off turnover ball. Courtney Lawes, the now departed Saints legend, recently popped back from Brive to warn Vesty that French flair is enjoying a renaissance. “He said the skill level of the kids coming through is phenomenal because they see the spaces and play with that joué mindset.”
Vesty is not entirely clear on the precise East Midlands equivalent of joué – “Play, mate? Get up, me duck?” – but he does know cool heads will be needed when the going gets tougher. “The boys now have had collective experiences of these pressures, be it at Croke Park [in last year’s semi-final] or in last year’s Premiership final where we perhaps went into our shell a little bit. We are a more mature group now. So I think we’ll be able to handle the perceived pressures better and be in a better position to back ourselves.”
And in those pin-drop moments, do not underestimate a team who, insists Vesty, perform better because they have fun together. “Rugby is a game of enjoying yourself and connecting. Then we work harder for each other. We are serious when we are serious but it is mandatory that we have fun. That is one of our absolute super‑strengths.”
Strike early and stay positive and the Shoe Army could yet have the last laugh.
