Daily Mail

Mad as a box of frogs? THAT’S ME!

CURTIS LANGDON has been a sensation for table-topping Saints. Now he has England in his sights... and you can’t wipe the smile off his face

- By Chris Foy Rugby Correspond­ent

AT northampto­n, they don’t regard Curtis Langdon as the shy, retiring type. When he was having his picture taken by Mail Sport, scrum coach Matt Ferguson quipped: ‘I hope you’ve got a wide lens to fit his head in the shot.’

Phil Dowson, the Saints’ director of rugby, described his hooker as ‘mad as a box of frogs’. So, what does the butt of the banter offer in his own defence?

‘I’d say I’m one of the louder characters at the club, so I think that’s why he has used that phrase,’ said Langdon. ‘I don’t mind a joke — to bring a bit of energy off the training pitch. I bring a lot of noise when we are on the training pitch as well.’

The 26-year-old from Somerset has been one of the signings of the season — helping northampto­n soar to the top of the Premiershi­p table after arriving last summer following a short, unexpected stint in France at Montpellie­r. Langdon has proved to be a committed and passionate recruit.

‘I do get quite fired up in training, especially when there is a big game at the weekend,’ he said. ‘It’s a contact sport and I enjoy that side of it. Sometimes it boils over, but I’m getting better at controllin­g that, to make sure we get the best out of training, without taking it too far.’

There is a tough streak in Langdon, which comes from his upbringing in Weston- super-Mare, where he developed an interest in combat sports. ‘I played a bit of football and with my dad, I did boxing, karate and kickboxing,’ he said. ‘I did a lot of that when I was younger. I was quite an aggressive kid.

‘My dad was in the Marines and played a bit of rugby. When he came out, he coached me until I was about 15. I’d say he was quite hard on me, but it all came from a good place and if he hadn’t put as much time into me as he did, I wouldn’t be where I am now, so I owe him a lot. He travels everywhere to watch me play now. He rarely misses a game.’

Langdon (right) admits that he became an oval-ball obsessive as a teen. All he wanted was to become a profession­al rugby player. ‘I didn’t have a Plan B,’ he admitted. Any contingenc­ies just involved a different route into his preferred career.

He looked up to a great Springbok who illuminate­d the Premiershi­p and Champions Cup with Saracens. ‘I’ve always been a hooker and Schalk Brits was my idol growing up,’ said Langdon. ‘I used to get excited with the way he ran with the ball.

‘His offloading game was really good but he had that edge about him as well. He brought a good bit of physicalit­y to the game — with a smile on his face.’

There are plenty of smiles from Langdon too, not least when he followed up this interview by accepting a challenge to see how many keepy-ups he could manage with a rugby ball. His best score from three attempts was 13.

Langdon’s jovial, upbeat nature has been tested by more than his fair share of career upheaval. ‘When I was 15, I moved up to London Irish,’ he said. ‘I was in the academy for two years, one year contracted, then got released.

‘It happened quite late, so I did a pre-season with newcastle, then I signed for Darlington Mowden Park in national one. Then Steve Diamond rang me up and offered me a four-year deal at Sale. So, I played there and kind of broke through. A couple of years ago, I decided to go to Worcester and that lasted for three months (before the club went bust). Then I had that experience out in France, at Montpellie­r. Then I arrived here at northampto­n.’ He lists the twists and turns in a matter- of-fact way. But asked if the setbacks gave him a stock of personal resilience, Langdon said: ‘I think so. In sport, you are always experienci­ng ups and downs.

‘When I signed for Worcester, I had an idea of how I saw the next few years going, but three months in, everything changed. It came as a shock. But everything tends to happen for a reason, and I was quite fortunate with the opportunit­y I got. I just tried my best to make the most of it.’ Along the way, he had various loan spells at clubs in the second and third tiers of English rugby, as he strove to prove his worth. He cherishes the unorthodox memories down the pyramid. ‘ one of the mad experience­s was going to Wharfedale,’ he said. ‘They’ve got a brick wall right behind the dead-ball area — or they did when I played there. There’s a ladder that goes over the brick wall because every time a conversion is kicked, someone has to go over the brick wall to get the ball.’

This afternoon at Franklin’s Gardens, Langdon will seek to resume his climb towards another England call-up. He has been superb all season for northampto­n and is widely considered as a prime contender for Steve Borthwick’s squad for the summer tour of Japan and new Zealand.

Langdon won two caps in the summer of 2021 and said: ‘ The tour is a major goal and I want to play more for England.

‘If I get that opportunit­y again, I want to be ready so I can make the most of it and stay in that jersey for a long time.’

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PICTURE: ANDY HOOPER

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