THOSE admiring the framed photographs of Northampton’s international players in the Sturtridge Pavilion may have noted that of the 16 faces in the bottom two rows, only six played for England. Those who have gone immediately before presage the disposition this season of Northampton’s squad — the only club in the Zurich Premiership with a greater proportion of non- England-qualified players.
It does not seem to be doing them any harm. The only club to have taken maximum points from the opening two weekends of the Premiership, scoring tries as though they were going out of fashion and favoured to beat Gloucester, who have also started well, this afternoon.
Alan Solomons makes no apologies for any perceived imbalance, nor should he. The trend began a decade ago under Ian McGeechan’s stewardship at Franklin’s Gardens. Then, a phalanx of Scots followed McGeechan, who was then the Scotland coach, to the Midlands. When Solomons took over as head coach this season from Wayne Smith, he replaced departing overseas players with others. And if he has traded heavily in South African stock, it is the market he knows best.
He does not look like a coach; with his small, neat features, he resembles far more closely the lawyer that he was in Cape Town, but he arrived in Northampton with a formidable record. A product — like his three daughters — of the University of Cape Town, Solomons coached Western Province in the Currie Cup during 1998-99 and the Stormers in the Super 12 for a further three years.
He was assistant coach to Nick Mallett in 38 internationals, encompassing South Africa’s record run of 17 successive victories during 1997-98 and then went to Ulster, who, last season, won the Celtic Cup and were runners-up in the Celtic League. Now he has the chance to fine-tune a club that has, with the exception of 2000 when they won the Heineken Cup, promised more than they have achieved in terms of trophies.
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“Sometimes the thoroughbred is not as strong as the mongrel,” Solomons, 54, said. Certainly, there have been times in the past three years when, on the big occasion, Northampton have lacked bite. But Solomons’s reference is to the mixture that makes the whole; if he has appointed Corné Krige, the former Springbok captain with whom he worked for so many seasons in Cape Town, as leader then he has also named Steve Thompson, the local boy who is England’s hooker, as vice-captain.
“I think Thompson has tremendous ability as a captain,” he said. “He is someone I want to work with and mentor, and he can learn from Corné. This is part of Steve’s apprenticeship. But I look at the man before I look at his ability and I believe one of the reasons we have gelled so well as a squad is that we have quality people, who are also very good players.
“We also have a good balance between those from outside and those from the inside, and full marks to the local lads for the manner in which they have welcomed those of us from overseas.”
You could not argue that Solomons is trying to undermine England: Thompson has his chance to improve as a leader; Mark Tucker, the England Under-21 centre, will benefit from his association with Mark Stcherbina, the Australian; Johnny Howard can go for scrum half advice to Mark Robinson, of New Zealand, and Robbie Morris can talk propping with Robbie Kempson, another Springbok.
Already Solomons has met members of the England coaching panel — Andy Robinson, Dave Reddin and Mike Friday, the sevens manager. Solomons is also there to give Northampton that extra kick that will make them top of the domestic pile, with a philosophy born of experience: that every coach wants to play an attractive game but that sometimes conditions, the opposition, injuries, will not permit it.
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“It’s my job to create an environment in which each player, and the team collectively, can realise its potential,” Solomons said. “They need to work and play in a positive, enjoyable atmosphere. We work from the bottom up, getting the right foundations in defence, in set-pieces. It’s difficult to say you have a particular playing style, you have to understand the variety of factors which determine how the game is played.”