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Ex-Italy No9 Callum Braley headlines list of 8 further Saints exits
By Josh Raisey
Northampton Saints have confirmed that former Italy scrum-half Callum Braley will leave the club at the end of the season.
The 30-year-old has spent the last two seasons at Franklin's Gardens after arriving from Benetton. His return to the Gallagher Premiership, having previously played for Gloucester, coincided with him bringing his 15-cap Italy career to an end.
Braley will be joined by a further seven players leaving the club at the end of the season: Joel Matavesi, Kayde Sylvester, Geordie Irvine, George Patten, Aston Gradwick-Light, Matthew Arden, and Nick Tarr.
“This is always a difficult time of year for our squad, as a number of players within our group will depart at the end of the season,” said Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson.
“This group of players is very special. We always speak about the importance of the contribution of the whole squad to our performances.
“All the players want to play, but every member of the squad has had a Saints-first attitude throughout the season.
“As a coaching group we couldn’t be prouder of these players and the efforts they have put in during their time as Saints men.”
This octet will join an already sizeable list of players leaving Franklin's Gardens at the end of the season, including some club legends.
Courtney Lawes, Lewis Ludlam, Alex Moon and the Waller brothers, Ethan and Alex, are just some of the departures, with the first three moving to play in France and the latter two retiring.
The players have a chance to end their Northampton careers on a high though, with the club sitting at the top of the Premiership with two rounds remaining.
They missed the opportunity to add an Investec Champions Cup to their trophy haul by losing to Leinster in the semi-final on Saturday, but remain one of the frontrunners to be crowned English champions next month.
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Latest Comments
Yeah nar I pretty much agree with that sentiment, wasn't just about the lineout though.
Yeah, I think it's the future of SR, even TRC. Graham above just now posting about how good a night it was with a dbl header of ENGvSA and NZvFrance, and now I don't want to kick SA or Argentina out of TRC but it would be great if in this next of the woods 2 more top teams could come in to create more of these sort of nights (for rugby's appeal). Often Arg and SA and both travel here and you get those games but more often doesn't work out right.
Obviously a long way off but USA and Japan are the obvious two. First thing we need to do is get Eddie Jones kicked out of Japan so they can start improving again and then get a couple of US teams in SRP (even if one its just a US based and augmented Jaguares).
It will start off the whole conferences are crap debate again (which I will continue to argue vehemently against), but imagine a 6 team Pacific conference, Tokyo Sunwolves (drafted from Tokyo JRLO teams), Tokyo All Stars (made up of best remaining foreign players and overseas drafts), ALL Nihon (best of local non Tokyo based talent, inc China/Korea etc, with mainland Japan), a could of West Coast american franchises and perhaps a second self PI driven Hawai'i based team, or Jagaures. So I see a short NFL like 3 or 4 month comp as fitting best, maybe not even a full round, NZvAUSvPAC, all games taking place within a 6hr window. Model for NZ will definitely still require a competitive and funded NPC!
On the Crusaders, I liked last years ending with Grace on the bench (ovbiously form dependent but thats how it ended) and Lio-Willie at 8. I could have Blackadder trying to be a 7 but think balance will be used with him at 6 and Kellow as 7. Scott Barrett is an international 6 sized player. It is just NZ style/model that pushes him into the tight, I reckon he'd be a great loose player, and saders have Strange and Cahill as bigger players (plus that change could draw someone like Darry back). Same with Haig now, hes not grown yet but Barrett hight and been playing 6, now that the Highlanders have only chosen two locks he'll be playing lock, and that is going to change his growth trajectory massively, rather than seeing him grow like an International 6.
Go to commentsDan Carter is the leading points scorer and leading points per game person for a player with significant tests. 2s RWC winner and member of the games greatest ever team. It's not even close. The only question of GOAT for rugby is whether McCaw deserves it given Carter's numbers.
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