Boyd enjoyed meeting with 'outstanding' Saints skipper Hartley

Chris Boyd paid a visit to Dylan Hartley at Pennyhill Park earlier this week - and the new boss says the Saints skipper was 'outstanding'.
Dylan Hartley met new Saints boss Chris Boyd earlier this week (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)Dylan Hartley met new Saints boss Chris Boyd earlier this week (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Dylan Hartley met new Saints boss Chris Boyd earlier this week (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

Boyd spent the week at Franklin's Gardens as his current club, Super Rugby side the Hurricanes, have this weekend off.

He took time to meet the management team and members of the backroom team at Northampton.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

And he also headed to the England camp ahead of the final Six Nations game, against Ireland at Twickenham today.

"I went down to Pennyhill and had a good yarn to Dylan," said Boyd, who will officially become Saints boss when the Super Rugby season ends this summer. "It was great.

"I found him outstanding.

"I'd never met Dylan before, even though he's a Kiwi (Hartley was born in New Zealand).

"I've had the privilege of working with some pretty good captains over the years. When I was with the Sharks, John Smit was the captain there and he was obviously great and very influential.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

"In the early days, Tana Umaga was captain and he was a great captain.

"I can already sense that Dylan is a really good leader of men so we connected pretty well immediately.

"We had a really good conversation and our thinking over what we want to do at the Saints during the next couple of years is strongly aligned."