Having made Sale a force in English rugby and the Saxons to 15 wins from 16 games, Jim Mallinder is now charged with taking Northampton Saints back to the Guinness Premiership. He spoke to www.rucked.com
What made you leave England for Northampton?
Well, I’ve always been impressed with Northampton, ever since I came as a player. It’s a tremendous club with a fanatically loyal fanbase. That’s really been proven this year in National One when we’ve had more than 10,000 fans at every single home game – whoever we’ve been playing against. Those kind of figures put some Premiership attendances to shame.
Was a return to club rugby always on the cards?
It was always at the back of my mind. I enjoyed my time at Sale and working with the RFU academy and, more recently, the Saxons but as a coach one of the great things is the day-to-day work. And I missed that so it’s good to be back and getting this club back into the Premiership is the sort of challenge I relish.
Did you learn from your time with England?
Whereas working with a club makes you very insular, with the England job I was able to get out a bit and open my horizons. I would get around the clubs and speak to players to talk about different ways of playing and coaching. Now, I’m able to put all the information together and apply it to a club setting.
What did you have to do first at Northampton?
The first thing was to get to know players. You might watch games with them in but you don’t know the ins and outs of them and you only discover that by training and coaching with them day-in, day-out. You can then coach them one day and see how they respond at the weekend and discover how they react to criticism and new ideas.
How pleased are you with the season so far?
We’re generally quite pleased. If somebody said to be me at the start of the season that we’d win our first ten all with bonus points, then we’d have taken that. But we’re still a very young team in terms of how long we’ve been together. There’s a lot more to come and there’s harder challenges ahead – this weekend’s match against Exeter is a prime example.
You didn’t really have to make wholesale changes when you arrived did you?
Any side is constantly reviewing and we’re looking to strengthen, especially if we get back in the Premiership but our first aim is to get there – we have to keep winning.
For the past season or two, Northampton has been often associated with unrest in the dressing room, did you address that?
It’s something that I’ve not witnessed myself. I’ve been really impressed by the togetherness of the lads and the way they work with and for each other. It’s a good squad that enjoys being together.
How you finding National One?
I did actually play in this division a long time ago, it was for Sale and we had to win at West Hartlepool to go up to the old first division. It’s changed enormously since then, it’s a really competitive league with a lot of good sides. And it’s improving every year, although it is different from the Premiership with different grounds and different styles of play.
How have the players reacted to it?
They’ve responded fantastically. Some of the grounds are not quite as plush as Northampton or Exeter Chiefs – there are some quality places here – some are more ‘homely’, more like proper rugby clubs from the past. But we’re enjoying being at different grounds with different challenges.
Have you had to remind the players they’re not in the Premiership anymore?
No not all – I’ve never had to say that. The professionalism of the squad has come through, the attitude has been fantastic in training and in games.
Do you see many of the National One sides ending up in the top flight?
Yeah, there’s definitely a lot of sides with serious aspirations that really want to get there. That’s why it’s been so full-on every single week, it’s a very difficult division to be in.