Double-winner Day: Saints a year or two away from another title

Because the former Northampton lock was the players’ player of the year the last time the club claimed league glory, back in the halcyon days of 2013/14.

Day earned the respect of his team-mates, seeing off competition from a plethora of stars to scoop the most-prized award at the end of season dinner.

His studious nature and ability to glue a forward pack together was so crucial as Saints added their first and so far only Premiership title to the Challenge Cup crown they had claimed on the previous weekend in a magical May six years ago.

Day retired during the summer of 2018, having amassed a huge 226 appearances in 10 years at Franklin’s Gardens.

He is now a player liaison officer for the RPA (Rugby Players’ Association) and keeps a close eye on events at his former club.

And having been able to see plenty of Saints on television this season, as well as in person on a couple of occasions, he harbours high hopes for Chris Boyd’s side.

“It was pretty clear that Saints went through a period of glory with a really successful team that aged in the end and it got to the point that results weren’t coming that people were used to,” Day said.

“There was kind of this re-birth under the new DOR (Boyd) where some really good young players got their chance, whether by design or accident, and you’ve seen some young guys perform exceedingly well and play some really exciting rugby.

“There’s still some way to go before that team reaches its maturity and starts to win some tight games.

“Whenever the Prem-winning team was in those tight situations, we always had that belief that we’d win games and I don’t think this team is quite there yet.

“But I think there’s massive, massive potential and you’ve only got to look at the age profile of the team with countless players under the age of 25 who are really top-notch perfomers.

“I think they are maybe a year or two away from maybe lifting a Premiership title.”

When asked how much he has seen of Saints since he departed the club, Day said: “I watch a lot more rugby on TV than when I played because when I played, watching a game was work.

“I wouldn’t watch a game the way most people watch a game, I’d be analysing, pausing and rewinding and thinking about how this team played and that team played and what we could do.

“Now I just watch for the enjoyment and Saints seem to have been on a lot this year on TV so I’ve watched an awful lot and been down to the Gardens twice this year.

“It’s always nice but I try not to hang around like a bad smell.

“I’ve obviously got a soft spot for the club and it’s exciting times for them.

“I just think it’s a club that’s run the right way.

“Mark Darbon as CEO has come in and made some tough decisions but when I last went down there, I’ve got to say it was hugely impressive to look at the club and see how modern it appears and how fresh it appears.

“It really does feel like a club moving in the right direction.”

So which Saints players have impressed Day this season?

“Some people I kind of expected to perform exceedingly well like Alex Mitchell,” Day said. “I always rated him very highly and there’s Hutch (Rory Hutchinson) in the backs who can always provide flashes of brilliance when he gets the chance.

“But the player who really stood out for me, particularly early-season was George Furbank, who was always that kind of classy operator who performed pretty well every time he played but his performances have gone up to a standard now where he’s earned that England spot.

“He got his chance in the Six Nations and when things start up again, he’ll kick on again.

“I think he’s been absolutely outstanding, I really do.

“And at the other end of the scale, you’ve got someone like Dan Biggar, who is a world-class player reportedly being paid a lot of money but absolutely justifying it every week in that he wears his heart on his sleeve for the Saints and plays really well.

“Those are two players who are pretty crucial to the Saints and the way they have played.”

Though Day has departed, Saints still possess plenty of talent in the second row.

Courtney Lawes continues to produce brilliant performance after brilliant performance, while David Ribbans, Api Ratuniyarawa and young gun Alex Coles also offer plenty.

And while the club has moved on in recent times, so has Day.

“I don’t miss playing, if I’m honest,” he said.

“I played an awful lot of games so I don’t feel like I’ve left anything I could have out on the pitch.

“But I do miss being around the players in the way I used to be, the camaraderie and the socials, the bus journeys and the socials - those are the things that sportspeople miss when they retire.

“I don’t miss feeling like I’ve been in a car crash every Sunday morning - that’s something I’m glad to have left behind.

“Who knows - one day I might move back into a club environment but for now I’m enjoying trying to help all the players in this country.”

Day’s current role sees his provide a conduit between clubs and players in England’s professional game.

And it is something he is enjoying.

He said: “I got brought in to work with the RPA because I’d worked with them before and they knew what I could bring, in terms of a feel for how things work off the pitch but also some real roots with players still on it and that’s my job - to bridge that gap between the players on the pitch and the people who sit in the boardroom and make decisions with a financial head on.

“I’ve really enjoyed it.

“There’s a lot of demand on the role because rugby players are 24/7 so they don’t think twice about phoning you at 10pm on a Friday or midday on a Sunday. If they want something, they want it then.

“But there’s a huge amount of flexibility in my job and some days I’ll travel just to have an hour with a group of players or other days I’ll work from home and that’s the nice sort of flexibility in my job.”

Day’s job has been made more difficult by the recent Covid-19 crisis, which has caused a huge amount of uncertainty for players and clubs.

And he has found it difficult to deal with the situations thrown up by clubs cutting the pay of their players.

“It’s calmed down a bit now,” said Day, who has also recently been taking part in the BBC’s MasterChef, making it all the way to the semi-finals of the cooking competition.

“When the cuts were initially announced, we had no idea as an association that they were going to happen.

“It was a discussion between the club owners and they decided.

“That’s brought about issues in that 13 clubs all imposing their different flavour of wage cuts on the players.

“It’s something that’s really difficult for us to deal with as an association because there were already countless different scenarios for the players but then when all the clubs were doing it differently, it just became difficult to identify who needed help and who didn’t.

“The best thing we could do was just to lay out advice to the players about how each player wanted to deal with what was put in front of them.

“We gave the players legal advice, we explained to the players why we thought the clubs were doing it and the need for the players to understand that it’s an unprecedented event for rugby and that everyone was going to take a bit of hurt.

“It was just a case for the majority of the players of just wanting a bit more time and security around what they were being asked to do.

“No one likes taking a pay cut, regardless of how it’s done but to have it put on you quite suddenly with no explanation of the structure or how it was going to happen was difficult for a player who for their whole career has been told the contract is king and they have to abide by the rules, the same way the club has to.

“It wasn’t an easy scenario to deal with.”

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