For a grand old club with an enviable, newly enlarged stadium, the modern history of Northampton Saints RFC is strangely fraught. Every team has its highs and lows but the Saints are currently besieged on all sides, trapped by unhappy accidents and assorted misjudgments of their own making. The George North saga, Dylan Hartley’s suspension, looming European oblivion: there is not a lot of jaunty, jazzy marching in at Franklin’s Gardens right now.
These have been particularly testing days since their 37-10 home drubbing to Leinster last Friday. Their England captain Hartley has been banned for six weeks, the investigation into how North’s most recent head knock was handled is due to be made public on Monday and they are now in Dublin to face more Irish chin music. “If we’re honest, the mood is not the best,” conceded the full-back Ben Foden, his personal outlook further clouded by a dislocated finger in training that has sidelined him for Saturday’s return fixture. “What we have all realised is that things need to change because there is something wrong.”
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