Will king Louis reign for Saints?
Brendan Gallagher finds Saints awaiting a French legend
Time will soon tell but don’t be surprised if France No.8 Louis Picamoles proves the best signing for the forthcoming season. As Saints new skipper Tom Wood puts it rather succinctly.“I’m just bloody pleased it was us who signed him.Tackling him all afternoon is no fun at all, I’ve been there.”
Nor does it take any stretch of the imagination seeing Picamoles quickly emerging as a crowd favourite at Franklin’s Gardens, he is their kind of forward. Powerful, almost beyond measure, Picamoles has already been nicknamed the iceberg by his colleagues because his centre of gravity is so low.When you tackle Picamoles its like hitting the tip of the iceberg.
Combative and consistent, the former Montpellier and Toulouse man is among the world’s best when fully motivated and at 30 he still has three or four top seasons left in his locker. Let’s face it he has never been over-reliant on gas.
More importantly the fires still burn. He should have been a fixture in the France side for a decade but never wholly convinced Marc Lievremont, eventually rather fell out with Philippe Saint-Andre and curstatistics rently finds himself surplus to requirements with Guy Noves. Scandalously he ‘only’ has 54 France caps when that figure should be nearer 100.
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder insists Picamoles is not a like-for-like replacement for Samu Manoa who was much missed last season and it is true are subtle differences with Manoa – the raw athletic talent – and Picamoles who is more measured in his modus operandi. From the stands, however, their ability to blast holes in defences and do the hard yards around the fringes before offloading looks mighty similar.
“We already have a good back row, a talented established group of players but occasionally you have to push on and add to that mix,” says Mallinder. “Louis will give us something different. He wants to improve his game and believes he can achieve that playing in the Premiership after ten seasons in France.
“I can’t imagine his international career is over yet, Louis is far too good for that and, if he plays well for Saints, France will come calling.We have factored that in, we have good resources in the back row and if France do coming knocking it would mean he is playing really well for us.”
Mallinder is understandably excited about the go-forward Picamoles can ensure for an already powerful pack but will nonetheless be anxious to get off to a decent start.Three defeats in their opening four Premiership games last season left Saints with a mountain to climb.
It was a curious campaign. Saints boasted the meanest Premiership defence – 35 tries conceded, fewer than even champions Saracens – and ordinarily that would guarantee a side being involved at the death when it came to trophies. Somewhere along the line, however, they lost their cutting edge and attacking mojo. And that’s not just among the backs, Saints forwards were no longer scoring their quota.
“We weren’t that far away last season and injuries at bad times didn’t help but we clearly need to find a little more in attack, the don’t lie.We need to build our score more effectively. “One of the hallmarks of Saracens over the last couple of seasons is the clinical way they take opportunities.They let very few tries and points go begging which on top of their other qualities is why they are champions.” One of the keys to unlocking Saints’ full firepower could be where Mallinder employs his son Harry, left, who starred at fly-half for Junior World Cup winning England in June after wonderfully accomplished Premiership run-outs at fullback and inside centre. Already he has demonstrated that little bit of X-factor sometimes needed to unpick well organised defences. So what position best suits Harry’s game? “He will play in the position that best suits Northampton,” says Dad. “But it’s not remotely a problem, he is young and still developing a full range of skills. Owen Farrell has moved between 10 and 12 all his career and it has served him well and I dare say he could play full-back as well. If I’m honest a good way down the line I see Harry as a 12 but let’s see how things develop. There’s no rush.”