“It’s been madly busy since the win,” says a smiling sales assistant at the Saints Shop at Cinch Franklins Gardens stadium. “I think because we didn’t open until the Wednesday after the Leinster game, people wanted to get ready for the final straight away.”
And it feels like half the town will be at the 74,000 capacity Principality Stadium in Cardiff on May 24 dressed in the club’s green, black and gold – tickets were like hens’ teeth as supporters flocked to the site’s Investec Champions Cup final booking page – at the time of writing tickets for £85+ were mostly singles (although blocks of tickets seem to get released steadily, so don’t give up on going just yet.)
Trains are booked up, parking in Cardiff city centre is sold out on apps like JustPark, and as for accommodation, well, you’ll be paying through the nose for some of the hotels and B&Bs. Saints’ have put on a load of extra coaches to travel down on the day and again, at the time of writing there were a few seats left.
While there have been subsequent announcements since the historic 34-37 win – the Lions squad, a new incoming ten in the form of Anthony Belleau, Callum Chick’s signing and the sad departure of Temo – most fans can’t stop thinking about the possibility of Saints gaining another lump of silverware after last year’s Premiership win.
It’s been 25 years since Saints won what was then the Heineken European Cup – in a final at Twickenham against Munster. I can remember as a newspaper reporter at the time, how the town turned green for the weekend, and sales of what was then a daily Chronicle & Echo newspaper were huge, as pages and pages were dedicated to the historic win.
What’s been fascinating to watch this time around is the frustration of many fans, and the players themselves, about how much Saints were written off against Leinster (who, to be fair, have most of the Irish national team and hadn’t dropped a point in the run-up).
At a pre-match press conference at The Gardens just before the Leinster game, the belief in the team was palpable – from the players at least.
The national press, along with locals like BBC Northampton’s Graham McKechnie and Jake Sharp, Tom Vickers from the Chron, me, plus some sports journalism students from the university lined up to hear from players and coaches including Dowson, Smith and Pollock. The questions from the nationals were as you might expect, and largely focused on Leinster’s brilliance, Lions selection and Henry Pollock, or ‘HP’ as he’s called by Phil Dowson. You could perhaps understand the frustration – and to me it was palpable. The Saints were fielding questions about another team’s brilliance when they were hitting their own form at the perfect moment.
Dows first broke the news that George Furbank is struggling to recover from his arm break that might see him out for the summer tours. Then detailed how different Saints are this year compared to last, specifically how Smith’s last 12 months have seen him become the England first choice ten, and that players from last year and those facing Leinster for the first time now had the experience and hunger to do better.
Fin Smith’s fielding of questions made me think he was quietly but perhaps furiously processing the inevitable comparison between the two teams, you could see the muscle in his jaw flinching at discussions about how brilliant the opposition fly-half Sam Prendergast is. But let’s not forget, Saints also have plenty of internationals, were coming off the back of two good wins and have a bond that, in my 25 years of following the team, is stronger than people realise.
“I’m definitely trying to be more relaxed [than last year], to try and play with a smile on my face, more than I would have had this time last year. I was probably a bit nervous and a bit tense, one of the things I’m looking forward to is soaking it all in and enjoying it.”
"This year there is zero pressure whatsoever, which we love as a group. Because we firmly believe that on our day we can go and beat anyone.
“That underdog thing fires you up a bit more, potentially you feel you might not be getting the respect you deserve, we come in and train so hard every day and to be told there’s no chance of us winning – people are going to have their opinions but that frees us up.”
And so it proved. Saints’ win, which has taken then to the final, saw a lot of rugby commentators, podcasters, ex-players and pundits admit they were wrong to see the match as a foregone conclusion.
You could see that starkly in the players’ post match reaction: After his hat-trick of tries, Tommy Freeman said:”…the fight we showed, the squad we got, we knew we could do this. We know if we get our performance on the pitch, we can take anyone on. The bookies said Leinster by 30 points, but here we are!”
Scrum half Alex Mitchell said: “A couple of pundits were saying they’re going to win by 20-30 points and that Saints won’t score a point.”
He added: “We showed up this time and the first 20 minutes, we punched them in the face. They weren’t really expecting that. Credit to the boys, we got the result.”
While Fraser Dingwall, so often the unsung hero of any Saints game, said: “I don’t think I’m surprised. In this group there’s so much connection, so much talent. We know what we’ve got within us.
“We were probably written off before this game and I think we’ve proved a point to a lot of folk around how good we are.”
And if you ever doubt how strong and bonded this team is, just have a look at this reaction to the Lion’s announcement:
This weekend’s team selection against Exeter away sees many players rested – 14 changes have been made for Sunday’s trip to Sandy Park. With the Premiership play-offs out of reach this year, Saints can afford to concentrate on the final against Bordeaux on May 24.
Yes, they’ve got superstars like Bielle-Biarrey, Penaud and Jalibert, but then again…why not us?
See you in Cardiff on May 24…if we can find a parking space. SHOE ARMY!
