Northampton Saints
News: Saints Sign Highly-rated Titans Captain
By ComeOnYouSaints.com
March 12 2012
Northampton Saints today announced that the club has signed Sam Dickinson from Rotherham Titans.
SAINTS SIGN HIGHLY-RATED TITANS CAPTAIN
The 27-year-old forward has been rated very highly by seasoned watchers of Championship rugby and was recently identified in The Rugby Paper as one of the players most likely to make an impact at Aviva Premiership Rugby level.
Dickinson, who is captaining the Titans this season, has been at Clifton Lane since 2009, having previously played for hometown club Caldy. In his two-and-a-half years he had played 63 times at both lock and in the back row, scoring four tries.
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder says that he had been following Dickinson’s progress closely over the past few months and that the forward had the potential to make his mark at Franklin’s Gardens.
“Time and again The Championship has shown it is a league full of quality players ready to step up into the Premiership, and Sam fits into that category,” he said. “He is physically strong, very competitive and has good leadership skills. He can also play in a number of positions, which is very important as we try to successfully manage our resources within the salary cap.
“He is also very hungry to succeed as a full-time professional, and we believe that he will be a good asset to the Saints squad next season.
“We are only bringing players to Franklin’s Gardens who we think can succeed at the top end of the Premiership and Heineken Cup, which is the level where we want to be playing at year in, year out.
“We’ve got a strong squad here at the Saints and are now in the position where we are adding to that, not making wholesale changes for the sake of it.”
Dickinson says that he is excited by the prospect of playing in the black, green and gold, but also acknowledged the challenge ahead of him.
“It was a bit of a shock to get the call from Northampton,” he said. “I knew that a number of clubs had been looking at me, but to get the call from a big club like the Saints at the top end of the Premiership was flattering and I had no hesitation in putting pen to paper.
“It is an exciting challenge for me. I took the step up from playing at Caldy to Rotherham, but the move to the Saints represents another massive stepping stone in my career. I’m certainly looking forward to putting in every effort in a full-time environment and am relishing the opportunity.
“I’m also looking forward to training and hopefully playing with some of the best players in the country and am under no illusions as to how difficult it will be to earn a first team shirt at Franklin’s Gardens. So I’ll be taking it one step at a time and trying to do my best.”
Three members of the Junior Saints Academy have signed their first full-time contract to join the Senior Academy next season. Fly half Will Hooley, centre Tom Collins and prop Danny Hobbs have all impressed in either the Saints Under-19 or Wanderers teams this season, and Mallinder said that they deserve their opportunity.
“Alan Dickens, Mark Hopley and the rest of the Academy coaches are doing an excellent job bringing through talent and Will, Danny and Tom have all done really well this season,” he added.
“They have trained regularly with the first team during the school holidays and have impressed us with their skill level and determination.”
The trio will join the full-time squad at Franklin’s Gardens once all their academic commitments have finished in the summer.
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Stumbleupon12/03/2012 16:17
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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:12:16:21:33 by Phil..
[www.northamptonsaints.co.uk]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:12:16:14:10 by steve393.
hmmm.
at 6'4" and 18stone plus, maybe more of a lifter than a jumper surely . still , if he's from the andre bester school of forward play he won't be one for too many backward steps.
hooley, hobbs and collins are all really good talents, and there are more to come.the standards coming into the senior academy are simply unrecognisable from 3 or 4 years ago and it's being ratcheted up and up.
have to say, being able to go off either foot he looks as if he has the classic fullback's gift of making the first tackler miss most times. best to keep him running with his shoulders 90 degrees to the touchline if he can step both ways?
Saint til I die
Seriously welcome Sam and thats great news from the Academy.
Quote:ElmaFudd.
good news, maybe people will stop worrying about the lack of signings to date now.
Elma - For me its about quality not quantity - I for one am still very worried about the quality of this signing. Good squad player - maybe. But a good replacement for those leaving? Doubtful.
He may be a good championship player and he may deserve a go in the Prem but this is uninspirational for me! I hope for more. People will quote Samu as being the example to rubbish my opinion - but the law of averages says there are only one or two Samus about!
We will now go a full season where Dickinson tries to prove himself - JM will call him 'work in progress' - whereas imo to keep us constantly at the top of the pile, we need players of the quality that hit the premiership ground running...
And why has Jim suddenly posted this signing when he said he would not be rushed? I imagine it is because Dickinson couldnt sign quick enough - other quality signings in the pipeline may be waiting to see how things shape up before they sign.......Hope I am wrong (again).
Lee Dickson, Alan Dickens and now Sam Dickinson...how am I suposed to keep all that straight in my head?!?!
Welcome Sam D' and congrats too the acadmey boys too.
Welcome Sam, hope you prove to be another astute Mallinder signing.
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Its all about interpretation, I'm right everyone else is interpreting it incorrectly!
*/
Dickens won't be too hard to remember but imagine scrum time when Dickson lays the ball up to Dickson and then hear that over and over again.
Lastly, did anyone serious believe what Mallinder said recently about signings and not making anyone happy? It was a clear smoke screen and more of Jim's media masterclass in how he deals with them.
The signings will come but I think this term's signings will make or break him to a certain extent. This is virtually the first time he has self claimed to rule out internationals (assuming from 6 nation teams) and England players on the fringe with therefore the market he will seek in is smaller but more likely to find rough gem with a bit of digging.
Given that Dows is finally getting his shout for England and that Morgan has pretty much close to being the No.8 for a little while, anyone see a reason Narroway couldn't have come to the Saints? Take a look at some of the Prem clubs and you will see several players on the fringe of a call up but never hear of those clubs worried that they will be. A the next few years, Gloucester could be hit big time in the backs with what they have to offer. But it doesn't stop them churning them out.
" Every man his own King , every woman her own Queen -
we bend the knee to nobody " Basque proverb.
Welcome to Sam, you'll enjoy pre-season*
Come On You Saints
Remember the days when the team sheet had names in Bold becasue they had international caps..and everyone though that was a sign of a 'proper team'?
"sup·port·er"
Noun:
1.A person who approves of and encourages someone or something (typically a public figure, a movement or party, or a policy).
2.A person who is actively interested in and wishes success for a particular sports team.
; he will probably be a utility player given so many of our pack are England fodder this isn't a bad thing.
Also the timing of the announcment is no suprise to me, its getting to the time of year when players are signing on the dotted line and Saints only announce when a player commits to a contract. My point above was that maybe people should just be patient and wait to see who the management sign before complaining that we haven't signed anyone. If we still haven't got any replacements by the end of May that will be when I start to worry.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2012:03:13:09:56:25 by ElmaFudd..
Saint til I die
Top of the League 2014-2015 Season
I thought Narraway failed a medical - am sure someone said that on here anyhow.. given the nightmare Tiggers have had with Crane and Wasps with Rees, would suggest thats a gamble you avoid unless you have to
Reality - Courtney away and Samu at 8 (if Dowson is away) leaves Daisy and Zorro as locks and v little in reserve - as such - a couple of utilities like Sam (and James Craig) make a world of sense to freshen up / add impact where needed
I would add a certain Mauritz Botha to the ND1 'boys dun good' pile..
Premiership chairmen are utterly disrespectful about havinf a league structure outside of the prem, but the reality is without it they'd have to pay millions extra to either develop players or pay a premium for foreigners.
Only reservation I have for ND1 is when players (as we do) are contracted on 'development loans' to ND1 - you've effectively ringfenced 2 leagues so the playing in the lower leagues and work your way up dream is never really going to happen
thursdays is signing day surely?
Jim's rushed this one a bit
No wonder they continue to produce good youngsters and train on the SH itinerants - if you can survive in Yorkshire...
*I could agree with you - but then we'd both be wrong...*
Quote:Alan B
Jim's rushed this one a bit
Got to keep the fans happy Alan
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