Karaoke pair keen to put Saints in the mix
ANYONE who went to their joint-40th birthday party will agree that Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty should make a perfect double act, on and off the pitch.
The former England pair are currently assistants to Chris Boyd at Northampton, but Dowson will replace the homeward bound Kiwi as DoR next season while Vesty has been promoted from attack coach to head coach.
Last weekend’s home defeat to Ulster in the Champions Cup gave them an early taste of what life will be like next season as Boyd was forced to take a back seat, serving his ban for criticising referee Adam Leal for his handling of their 30-6 defeat to Saracens on January 2.
Today’s match against Racing 92 has been cancelled due to Covid cases in the Saints squad, handing Racing a 28-0 win, denying the duo another chance in the hotseat.
Dowson has no doubt their relationship will work well under the pressure going forward. “We have known each other a long time and I have a huge amount of respect for him,” Dowson said of former Leicester fly-half Vesty.
“He is very inquisitive and ambitious so we are very similar in that respect, and he is incredibly excitable. He’s like a labrador puppy at times, and really mad for it, and sometimes I’m perhaps
less so and a bit more miserable. We get on well but also we can be fairly blunt with each other because we trust each other and we have Saints’ best interests at heart.”
Dowson made nearly 200 appearances for Saints before hanging up his boots five seasons ago, while Leicester legend Vesty has gained nearly ten years’ coaching experience, including a spell with England.
Despite playing at different clubs, they’ve known each other for the best part of a quarter of a century; their families mix together and Vesty’s teenage children sometimes
baby-sit Dowson’s younger kids.
“We had a joint 40th in November, which was a karaoke party, so we had a good craic there with a few duets and stuff,” he said. “I think we sang Islands in the Stream. We wanted to do Simon & Garfunkel because he had that Art Garfunkel hairdo but there was nothing appropriate for that party.”
Dowson and Vesty will hope to be singing when they’re winning when they take on their new roles next season, but Dowson insists there is still plenty of unfinished business left to attend to in
the here and the now.
“It’s such an historic and prestigious big club so I am obviously delighted and honoured to be given the role, and to have Sam alongside doing the head coach role is fantastic for the pair of us,” he said.
“We are looking forward to it but we have got half a season here with Chris to try and get ourselves some silverware and play some good rugby and perform and get some results.”
Home and away defeats to Ulster combined with a 45-14 home thrashing at the hands of Racing left Saints relying on other results to make the top
eight before today’s cancellation ruled them out of the qualification race.
Dowson recognises that their decision-making with ball in hand needs to be better as they look for a strong finish to the domestic season. “The big focus for us is to try and take some of the lessons from our European games, which have fundamentally been frustrating, and try and execute them under huge pressure,” he said.
Against Ulster, Saints were far too frantic in their attacking play but Dowson says players will still be given the freedom to express themselves. “What we always talk
about as a coaching group is – at any given opportunity is there any chance to give the ball away? Yes, no or maybe.
“As soon as it’s a maybe then potentially you have to understand that the ball becomes more precious than the opportunity to put somebody into space with it.
“Some of our decisions were slightly off, where we tried to force it a bit too much. But the one thing we don’t necessarily want to do is take that decision away and just become a “one-out” side because I’m not sure playing that way would suit us.”