Saints swoop for Blowers

13 April 2012

Northampton are in the process of completing yet another major coup by securing their towering All Black flanker Andrew Blowers on a long-term contract.

As they head off into Europe this weekend from a position of relative strength in the top four of the English Premiership, the booming Saints are wasting no time to re-sign their most valuable player for three more seasons, long before his contract runs out next year.

After his mighty role in reducing Wasps to a shambles in Saturday's 34-20 victory, the news will be greeted with a chorus of Hallelujah from the congregation of 10,000.

A devoutly religious man for whom following the Saints had been a biblical way of life long before he became one of them, in a rugby sense, two years ago, Blowers' devastating impact on the English scene can be measured by his club's last two results.

As the dominant figure among a back row cast which included Lawrence Dallaglio, the New Zealander lifted his team to a decisive win, whereas the same team had floundered badly without him at Saracens the previous week.

The contractual talks are another example of how Northampton intend keeping ahead of the game, on the field as well as off it. Not satisfied at merely transforming Franklin's Gardens into a a shining monument to Keith Barwell's visionary chairmanship, they have now succeeded in making the business pay with a profit last season of £209,000.

Recapturing the European crown they won at Twickenham two years ago may be a tall order, but anything is possible as long as the main players stay in one piece, Blowers in particular.

His next mission is to find a way into the last eight of the Heineken Cup via Biarritz, Cardiff and Ulster, first up at the rebuilt Gardens on Sunday afternoon.

John Steele, Saints' operations director and the coach behind their 2000 European triumph said: 'We've made some good signings, but I would put Andrew at the top of the list. At 27, he's not exactly ancient and we are in discussions about him staying with us for a longer period.'

Blowers said: 'This is an awesome club. I didn't know anything about Northampton but in making me welcome from day one, the guys have been just great.'

Wasps, repeatedly smashed into spilling possession, most of it within 10 yards of the opposition line, had nobody to compare with Blowers, hence their continuing bid to give Josh Kronfeld what he cannot get at Leicester - regular first-team rugby. A decision on his transfer is due today.

Long before Kenny Logan made it look deceptively less of a beating by haring off for an interception try in the last seconds, Northampton had made Wasps look anything but title contenders.

A trio of internationals, Jon Sleightholme, Mark Connors and Steve Williams, claimed the Saints' tries and Paul Grayson struck seven goals from nine attempts.

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