Latest news with #AlexMitchell
South Wales Argus
2 days ago
- Sport
- South Wales Argus
Harry Randall challenges England to 'make a statement'
The majority of the 27-year-old's 14 international caps have been from the bench, as was the case in his two Six Nations appearances earlier this year, but Alex Mitchell's British & Irish Lions call-up has opened up an opportunity for the scrum-half. It is one the Bristol Bears star is determined to seize and he was able to get to know some of those he may end up touring with as part of a 33-man training squad who assembled at Pennyhill Park last week. 'It will be really cool,' he said. 'I've never been to Argentina or Washington, which is exciting in itself, and it will be a great group of boys to be a part of. 'It's an opportunity to go out and make a bit of a statement in Argentina and America. 'We have a few Argies at Bristol now who talk it up so look forward to seeing them out there. 'Argentina are probably one of the most improved sides over the past four or five years, competing in the Rugby Championship as they do every year. 'They are a big, physical team, that's the first battle, and they pose a load of threats out wide, as you've seen in the Premiership this year. It will be a great test.' Randall hopes to head into the summer off the back of a play-off campaign with Bristol Bears, who head into the final weekend of the Premiership season in the fourth and final spot. That means their destiny is in their own hands for the visit of Harlequins and their No.9 is hoping to end a rollercoaster regular season on a high. 'It has been very up and down,' he added. 'At the start of the season, your goal is to be in those play-off spots and within a chance of winning the Premiership and that's where we are at the moment, so we can't complain. 'We are in that spot, we have a big last game at home and hopefully we get a chance at a play-off. 'Teams have developed how they play against us so being able to adapt in games, for myself as a nine, doing what's best for us to win games has been big this season. 'That last game of the season at home is always a nice send-off for a few boys who are heading off at the end of the season and it's a chance to celebrate the year in front of your own fans. 'We know the test Quins will pose and we are really excited about it.' Randall was an unused replacement when England beat France in the Guinness Men's Six Nations earlier this year. Should Bristol not make the Premiership showpiece, he will hope to have a greater involvement when the international summer begins with a visit from a Les Bleus XV to Allianz Stadium on June 21. 'It's an opportunity for those boys not involved in the (Premiership) final, a chance for boys to stamp their chances of getting on tour and the team to get a bit of cohesion.' England XV face France XV at Allianz Stadium, Twickenham, on Saturday 21 June at 3:15pm. Tickets from £25, please visit
The Independent
25-05-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
Alex Mitchell confident English clubs can stop France's Champions Cup dominance
Alex Mitchell believes Northampton have shown it is possible for English clubs to compete in the Champions Cup following their run to this season's final. French teams continued their stranglehold on the competition, with Bordeaux-Begles' 28-20 victory over Northampton in Cardiff making it five successive years that a Top 14 side has won it. Across the past 10 seasons, France have provided twice as many finalists as any other country, while Saracens and Exeter are the only English clubs to win the tournament since 2007. Saints, though, led the way this term, beating Leinster, Bulls, Munster, Clermont Auvergne and Castres (twice) on route to the Principality Stadium. 'I think a lot of (Premiership) clubs can take a lot of confidence from it,' Northampton and England scrum-half Mitchell said. 'This competition has been tough for English clubs in the last few years in terms of budgets and what-not. It has been a struggle. 'But I think we've shown that, regardless of that, if you front-up playing against these best teams, these quality outfits, you can do a job. 'We showed that. We got to the final and we nearly won. It's tough to take, but we can take a lot of credit from it. 'We have got a decent side and a lot of confidence in ourselves. That is what happened against Leinster (in the semi-finals) – we genuinely backed ourselves and had confidence that we could get a result, which we did. 'Regardless of all that (budgets and squad size), you need good coaching, which we've got, and the boys fronted-up. 'If we (English sides) do that and we are competitive about wanting to win, we can do good things.' Despite losing backs George Furbank and James Ramm to injuries inside the first five minutes, Saints rallied and pushed this season's dominant Champions Cup team to the limit. They were level 20-20 at the interval in front of a 70,000 crowd, which was the largest Champions Cup final attendance for 13 years, before Bordeaux closed things out during a tense second period. Mitchell's Saints and England half-back partner Fin Smith added: 'We are just a little team from a small town in England with a bunch of mates playing together. 'Bordeaux are a giant of European rugby with some absolute rock stars in their team and some unbelievable firepower. 'So, to have gone toe-to-toe with them for 80 minutes – or a large part of that – particularly with some of the adversity we had to face with injuries and yellow cards, is something we can look back on with pride. 'The main thing is to stay together as a group, because it is easy to splinter when you have had a knock like this. I need to dust myself off and try to switch off from that result. 'Ultimately, until you play in another big final and get the result you want, it is always going to sting and sit there in the back of your mind. That is just the way it is.'
ITV News
23-05-2025
- Business
- ITV News
Northampton Saints head to Cardiff to take on French side Bordeaux Begles in European Champions Cup
The Prime Minister this week announced a new deal with the EU - a post Brexit re-set. The only European reset this weekend will involve scrums. Saturday sees the final of the European Champions Cup, the showpiece event in rugby union, with last season's English champions taking on last year's French runners-up. More than 70,000 fans are expected inside the Principality Stadium in Cardiff as Northampton Saints take on Bordeaux Bègles. It's a final that few pundits predicted. Saints were major underdogs against Irish side Leinster, while six-time winners Toulouse were expected to edge their French rivals. While Bordeaux Bègles have yet to claim a European title Saints can dream of a first European champions crown since edging out Munster at Twickenham 25 years ago. They also reached the final in 2011, but lost to Leinster. Northampton and England scrum-half Alex Mitchell reckons that the Saints go into the final as slight outsiders. "Obviously, we had that slight motivation against Leinster, with everyone writing us off," he said. 'We are probably underdogs again for this game. Bordeaux are quality, (near) the top of Top 14 (in France), so we could use that as motivation – but every week has got a different motivation to it. 'We can appreciate they are a quality side, but we just kind of back ourselves. 'We have just done what we need to do, performed well and got results, so nothing changes too much in regards to that.' A tale of two cities (well one city and a town) Essential items The two places are famed for producing, what some might describe, as life's necessities. Bordeaux in France is one of the world's top wine producers. It boasts around 287,000 acres of vineyards - that's about 180,000 football pitches worth. They help knock-out 960 million bottles of plonk a year. Northampton is of course famous for its shoe industry - it became famous for its leatherworking and bootmaking in the 18th century, and the town is still home to King Charles III preferred footwear purveyor. Back to top Où est la piscine? It maybe the question beloved of every GCSE student of French but Bordeaux boasts the Miroir d'Eau, which is the world's largest reflecting pool. Not to be outdone Northampton has Mounts Baths. The swimming pool complex was built in 1936, is a notable Art Deco complex and has been given grade II listed programmes. Back to top History makers Of course both locales will be hoping to make sporting history this weekend, they also have a pretty impressive heritage hotspots. Bordeaux, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its 18th-century architecture and has 62 listed monuments, making it the second-highest after Paris. In the Middle Ages, Northampton was nationally important hosting English Parliaments and had a royal castle. Charles II had the town's walls and castle demolished in the 1660s in revenge for the town's backing of the Parliamentarians during the civil war. Back to top Famous faces There's been a few notable people from both places. Bordeaux was the birth place of Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) mum of both Richard the Lionheart and Robin Hood's rival King John. It's also the home of André Lhote (1885–1962), a A prominent French painter who was influential in the development of Cubism and former French Prime Minister Jacques Chaban-Delmas (1915–2000). Northampton has been home to Dr Who - in the shape of Matt Smith, he would later go onto to star in the Game of Thrones prequel. Talking of Thrones, Sophie Turner who played Sansa Stark and is about to play Lara Croft. Francis Crick (1916–2004) who co-discovered the structure of DNA in 1953 was born there was was writer Alan Moore, creator of the Watchmen and author of Jersualem in which Northampton is a leading character. Back to top The 27-year-old, who is also heading to Australia this summer with the British and Irish Lions, says he hopes he'll be a calm presence when it comes to the game. 'I like to think I am quite calm and collected,' he said. 'I like to go into games with a level head and be pretty chilled about it. Some people may sometimes think that is probably a bit too chilled, but I think it works for me. 'Everyone's different – some people need to be banging their head against the wall or being sick in a bin. But especially as a (number) nine or a 10, you need to stay calm. You can't be up and down. 'You are trying to run the game, to put yourself in the right places, so technically I try to push on that.' Mitchell may have the Saints down as underdogs, but in Henry Pollock, they have one of the sport's brightest stars. It's been quite the breakthrough season for the 20-year-old. He won his only England cap against Wales in the final match of the Six Nations, but that Cardiff cameo and some rampaging displays for Saints in Europe have propelled him into Andy Farrell's British Lions squad alongside Mitchell. England boss Steve Borthwick spoke about his remarkable career trajectory that could produce a match-winning performance. 'Look at how quickly he's grown from being at our Six Nations training camp, then playing a couple of games with the Under-20s, to then joining our training camp again and playing at the end of the Six Nations," he said. 'The form he's shown for Northampton since then – and in some of the biggest games – has been brilliant. He's clearly an incredibly talented player who just loves the challenge.' One man with experience of a European final in Cardiff is Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson. He was on the wrong end of a Leinster comeback, having led 22-6 at half time. "You often see across sports that semi-finals are end-to-end classic encounters and then finals are often a nervy, turgid affair where the margins are very tight. 'We have spoken about that, we understand that and we need to make sure we don't panic when those things happen. "We can't be satisfied just to be here – I've got to make sure we get our training level right and what is important to play against Bordeaux.' Dowson added: 'We don't want to get too caught up in 'it has been 25 years and are we going to do something different'. 'We have got to make sure that it's a great occasion. We've got the opportunity to do something special as a group.'
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Watch: Live interview with Saints' Alex Mitchell
Northampton Saints' Alex Mitchell is live in the studio 18:00-19:00 on Wednesday He chats to BBC Northampton's Graham McKechnie and Lennie Newman ahead of the European Champions Cup Final against Bordeaux in Cardiff on Saturday Saints have not won the trophy for 25 years Mitchell will also look ahead to this summer's British & Irish Lions tour in Australia A "Watch" button will appear at the top of this page when the interview is ready to be streamed Watch: Live interview with Saints' Alex Mitchell
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
How Saints are working to unearth the next Pollock
For years, 18-year-old Jack Lawrence has been dreaming of becoming a professional rugby one of many in Northampton Saints' academy desperate for a first-team contract this year he finds out if he makes the cut."I look at the pictures of the big names at Saints and wonder if one day it could be me," he admitted."It's been my boyhood dream, it would be very special."Since early February, BBC Look East have been filming behind the scenes with Saints' Under-18 defending Premiership champions pride themselves on producing young, local have a mandate to provide in excess of 50% homegrown players in the senior Saints squad, every season, 32 out of 61 first-team players come from the academy, including England stars Alex Mitchell, George Furbank, Fraser Dingwall, Tommy Freeman and of course, the biggest young star in the game, Henry are now the players who have helped propel Saints to a European Champions Cup final against Bordeaux Begles on Saturday, 24 May. "I cannot recommend the academy highly enough," said flanker Pollock, 20, who won his first England cap in March and has been called up for this summer's British and Irish Lions tour to Australia."You put your trust in the coaches that you're ready for the next step. That's what is so good about it, they put you in regardless of age and how old others think you are. "The coaches give you the confidence to go out on the pitch and show yourself, giving you the ability to take the next step and adapting to that next level."It's special here, very special."In this year's academy, there are around 65 players battling for a contract, although some are 17 and have another year to play. "It's something I've dreamed about since I picked up a rugby ball," said lock Ollie Hull."It's quite stressful, you have to watch your nutrition, you have to look back at the games to make sure you're doing everything you can do get a contract."Every Premiership rugby team is given a region to recruit and develop academy identifies, recruits and develops the most talented young players from several different local regions: the Northampton & District Alliance and East Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire, Suffolk and north east Essex, plus Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire and train once a week in Bedford with matches at weekends. 'We talk about making good mistakes' "The big thing we pride ourselves in is the relationships with our clubs and schools and the game across our region," said Max Dominy, one of the academy coaches."We have club and school coaches getting in touch saying 'we have a player we think you should take a look at'. "We value their opinion. We go out and about watching games."Once selected, the boys become part of a professional academy set-up."You've got to know when to flick a switch, when to be on, when to be off," said head coach Charlie Reed."In academy rugby environments you hit a real high level of intensity, it then drops, and then it climbs and you are expected to go to the high level again the next day."And you have to do that repeatedly for quite a long period of your life."The players are coached in the same way as the first team."It's about giving them a safe space to participate," said Dominy."We want them to play and feel free to express themselves and want to get better."We talk about making good mistakes. If they drop a ball, it doesn't matter because they're trying to do the right thing. "Eventually, they will catch it and it will make them a better player. We make it a safe space for them to fail."The priority though is their education."It's the most important thing," said Mark Hopley, the head of the Saints academy."We want to make sure they are focusing on that, so we facilitate a rugby programme alongside that. We work with their schools and clubs, but I guess between 14 and 18, it's a four-year job interview really." Swapping football for rugby union Lawrence has been part of the academy set-up for a few first love was football until a friend asked if he wanted to join his local rugby union club in Cambridgeshire. He was instantly hooked."I loved the physicality," he parents, Mark and Karen, have driven him to matches all around the country. Soon, however, the region's top public schools were interested in him joining."I'm an electrician, and my wife is a hairdresser, so we are not the richest in the world," said Mark."One of the first things we said in the meetings with these schools was that we couldn't afford to send Jack, but they said don't worry about the finances. They told us they wanted to work with Jack, his talent and develop him as a person."When we took him for his first day at St Joseph's in Suffolk, he walked away with his suitcase and that was a fairly emotional day to be honest."I thought I would be the one supporting my wife from crying, but I was the one who broke down in tears actually."Rugby union is often criticised for being too reliant on the country's top public schools. "That is the perception," admitted Hopley."Within our programme at GCSE year, there are high potential boys from state schools and there is movement. There are some independent schools who go after those boys and offer them scholarships. "Ultimately it's about what's right for their education. But they do get life-changing experiences as a result. "But we do have very good state schools too. Northampton School for Boys this year have more England Under-18 players in their squad than any other school. We are lucky to have them as a key partner." 'Character and work ethic over everything' This year, the Saints Under-18s won the Premiership Academy title. They beat last year's winners Bath 31-14 in the final at Kingsholm.A few weeks later, the senior coaching group at Saints met to discuss who they should sign and who should be released."We are looking for character and work ethic over everything," said Hopley."Sometimes it's position specific, we look at physical athletic potential but it's never one thing. But I can never coach how hard a young man is willing to work."Head coach Reed added: "I want authenticity, self-awareness."Do they want to get better through their actions, to drive their own development? If they have these traits at a young age, they will have them at an older one too."Hopley admits that selecting players is a real challenge and they can make mistakes."We've kept players too long and probably been too nice and stopped them getting opportunity elsewhere and we won't do that again," he said."The responsibility we have is to those players who don't get a contract. Have we added to their lives, developed them as people, so when they do go forward to their different environments, are they a better person?"We have to be honest, but telling them bad news isn't easy to take. When it comes to the crunch, it's the worst part of the job."Saints have handed seven players first-team academy contracts for the 2025-26 season. At their final home game of the season, the chosen players and their families were invited to Franklin's Gardens for the signing of contracts. The new players were unveiled to the crowd and given a framed signed jersey with their name embossed on the Lawrence looked in shock. His parents beamed with pride."This is something I wanted for a while," said Jack. "I have wanted this so much, my mum and dad too, it means so much to them as well."Watch: Saints Ascending - Behind the scenes with Northampton Saints Academy on BBC iPlayer
