STARRING in a Hollywood blockbuster doesn’t come close to winning an East Midlands derby for Martin Bayfield.
The Northampton Saints legend has just ONE win against Leicester Tigers on his playing highlights reel.
And after a neck injury cut-short his career, the giant 6ft 10ins lock went on to feature in Harry Potter, as Robbie Coltrane’s body double for his character, Hagrid.
Though the buzz of being in cinema’s biggest-ever book adaptation, raking in an eye-watering £940m, still doesn’t top the rush of rucking and rolling against the Tigers.
Bayfield told SunSport: “At least no one ever punched me whilst filming Harry Potter, though!
“I will never be able to create the excitement and joy of playing rugby and I will just become a sad old man looking back on it all thinking about how great those days were.
“I was lucky enough to have them and we move on. But running down the steps at Welford Road or walking out at Franklin’s Gardens is special. When the whistle goes, all hell breaks loose and it is mayhem.”
On Saturday Saints are looking to win at Welford Road for the first time since 2007.
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But Bayfield knows just how tough these M1 firecrackers can be with Tigers now looking to make the Premiership play-offs for an incredible 14th year in a row.
Taking a trip down memory lane, the Lions and England star said: “My memories are of the East Midlands derby are usually losing. . . I think I only won one of them, in 1992.
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“It was memorable because it was at Welford Road. Buck Shelford was playing for us and we had a guy called Gav Baldwin playing at loosehead prop.
“I don’t know what he had done, but Gav wasn’t scrummaging right and Buck Shelford just slapped him around the face – right in front of the Crumbie Stand. They all laughed at it.
“But it was quite clearly the thing to do as Gav Baldwin turned into a one-man wrecking ball and destroyed the Tigers pack for the rest of the game. Clearly slapping him around the face was the right tactic, it was a very Kiwi approach.
“People wouldn’t have seen the game unless it was on the Rugby Special. So you caught up with the game by reading the newspapers. It was just as well as there was a splendid anonymity to all the defeats!
“At the time, Leicester were so superior to any other team around. Bath were the only side that could hold a candle to them So you had to be absolutely on your game to beat Leicester.
“The stadiums were much more raw and it’s one of the reasons I still like Welford Road – you go there and that Crumbie Stand reminds you of what it used to be.
“They have the tiniest dressing rooms and the atmosphere is fantastic, the supporters are amazing and between Leicester and Northampton they have the most one-eyed fans in the country. And I love that.
“We would do out best to annoy them at Franklin’s Gardens. We had rattling Rita in the stands screaming her head off. We had the marching bands playing: ‘Oh when the Saints go marching in’ right outside their changing rooms.
“Things that now seem really stupid. Just anything to put them off their game. In the late 80s to early 90s they were a very special bunch. An uncompromising bunch.
“But there was no fear for me, you never went on the field fearing them. There was always just an extra crackle in the air for an East Midlands derby.
“Having also played for Bedford, I felt it more and that little triangle of clubs were pretty lively. I loved them and you came off the pitch knowing you had played a game.”
Bayfield also hopes his old club can save him from an uncomfortable night in a Leicester Tigers hot-seat.
If Saints win they will spare the ex copper the ultimate shame of having to plonk himself down in a chair furnished entirely in Tigers shirts.
So Bayfield is relying on a Premiership upset to spare him from humiliation.
He said: “My mate has a chair in his house that is upholstered in Leicester Tigers shirts. If ever there is a forfeit, I know at some point I will have to sit in that chair!
“I also have a WhatsApp group with my mates and there are a few Leicester Tigers fans on there. I know there will be hell to play if Tigers win. And they know there will be hell to pay if Saints beat Tigers.”
Bayfield played in a golden era that built up to the game turning from its amateur status to professional in 1995.
His generation was one where all of the old-school players would still be at the club, having their say and letting the young-guns know what they thought of them.
Bayfield said: “There aren’t so many of the old players around now.
“There aren’t the 400-game players around the clubs any more. You don’t have the old boys who wonder into the team room after the games and have dinner with you and have a beer and talk about the old days.
“I don’t think the current players have all of that history. When I played, the blokes on the wall in the black and white photos would still be walking around the place with their beer-stained blazers on and with a few extra pounds around their waists.
“They were quite happy boring you with their stories and spitting all over your face when they did it. And you loved them for it. “Those guys aren’t there any more though. So now these players are making their own memories – professional memories.
“They are still huge games, but the memories don’t go back quite so far and they are not interconnected through the generations. But I still think they are felt within that circle. It’s professional memories over beer-swilling ones.
“Players realise how big it is – but it is just not as deep-routed as it used to be. You don’t have those generations sitting in the same room afterwards.
“When I was a policeman in town, there were people who had played in derbies who were now builders, taxi drivers and whatever they might be. They could have played in one, two or 20.
“The guys won’t come across these guys now in their everyday lives. It’s just different.”
Whilst the ammeter and professional game seem worlds apart.
So to do the direction that Northampton and Leicester have been heading – with the Saints struggling at the wrong end of the table.
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Another hammering to Saracens last Saturday was the worst possible preparation for meeting with they most-hated rivals.
And Bayfield added: “Northampton had a glorious few years and I hope they can get them back.
“The difference is between the two clubs that when things go wrong at Leicester, they put it right quickly. Whereas at Northampton you feel it could be quite a big climb to get back up there again.
“Saints can’t do anything this season, but they could screw things up for Tigers. Mathematically, they could still get relegated, but I think that will be unlikely.
“They have seriously let themselves down and lost the coach that got them promoted and won them the Premiership title. People have paid the price and Saints have to sharpen up now in the back green and gold.
“Those defeats to Saracens are embarrassing, to do it four times. . . it’s nonsense. Leicester on their day are a team that can also inflict a really heavy defeat so Saints have to fight.”
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