Alex Mitchell says Northampton have a cheat code to avoid crashing to earth again a year after becoming English champions.
The East Midlands outfit go to arch rivals Leicester in round four on Saturday having won two of their first three league games to sit second in the table. They did exactly the same two years ago.
The reason that is relevant is in October 2024 Saints were coming off the back of a Gallagher Prem-winning season, celebrated as one of the outstanding teams of the era.
By the end of that campaign only two clubs sat below them in the standings. They had lost more games than they won and finished eighth, 14 points adrift of the play-off positions.
Motivations
“As a reference point that is a massive help to us,” admits Mitchell, the England scrum-half. “Sometimes you think it’s just going to happen and it doesn’t.
“The last 20 years of this league have shown how tough it is to go back-to-back. In that time only Leicester and Saracens have managed it.
“So we spoke a lot, pre-season, about getting our motivations right for this year. We definitely want to try and be one of them great teams that people remember.”
Northampton finished top in 2023/24, going on to beat Bath in the Twickenham final. They then said goodbye to a trio of stalwarts in Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam and Alex Waller.
Although they did reach the Champions Cup final the next season their league title defence never got going, partly due to misfortune with injuries.
“I think at one point we had eight to 10 boys in the physio room, but that can’t be an excuse,” Mitchell says. “We were very inconsistent, our away form was poor.
PREM Rugby, round four: Predictions, teams, kick-off times, how to watch and referee appointments
“Sometimes you think about the previous year and just remember the best bits; you think about the best games, the away wins. You don’t appreciate how hard you had to train to get yourself on the team in a good spot to perform.
“You think you’ve completed the job and you can just turn up and do it again, but the next season is totally different because all the other teams get so much better with new players and different tactics. You’ve got to adapt and go again.”
Saints were a class apart last season, setting an all-time league record by scoring 104 regular-season tries, 115 by the time they had beaten Exeter at Allianz Stadium and lifted the trophy.
No player scored more tries than Tommy Freeman, who claimed 18 despite not contributing to his side’s 94-33 rout of Bristol – the most points ever scored by a single team in a PREM match.
A month into the new campaign Northampton look to be in rude health heading to Mattioli Woods Welford Road for the biggest game in the calendar of both clubs.
Last weekend they were the only English side to win in the Champions Cup – Leicester were thrashed 41-17 by Pau in France. The previous week they stuck 71 points on Bath, scoring 11 tries against star-studded opponents.
They have lost a club legend in George Furbank, but his young replacement James Pater has made an outstanding start to life in Saints’ No.15 jersey.
However, a Tiger trap has been laid for them up the M1. Geoff Parling’s side are smarting from their heavy semi-final loss to Saints in June and have no intention of allowing Northampton to ransack their home for the first time since January 2023.
“We know it’s going to be a tough occasion,” says Mitchell. “We know how strong they are, especially at home. Welford Road is a bit of a fortress for them.
Can’t wait
“But you get excited for these big games and we can’t wait. We know the emotion spikes on the weekend and we’re relishing the challenge.”
The fact Saints are champions means the target on their back is even bigger, Mitchell acknowledges.
Want more from Planet Rugby? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for world-class coverage you can trust.
“Actually, we’ve spoken about that. You’ve got to appreciate that whether it’s at home or away, teams are going to try and get after you.
“They’re going to probably up their game a couple of percent because you always want to take down people at the top of the log.
“But competition for places at the club is fierce which is really healthy. We’ve not just got a strong 15, 23. We’ve got an entire squad that pushes each other. The Wanderers probably beat us in training on Thursday.
“We know Saturday will be tough but we’re going to try and show up and get a performance.”