Northampton Saints road to victory shattered!

Northampton Saints road to victory was shattered in a nail biting close to the season on Sunday; Saints lost the Semi-Final match in the last few minutes when Saracens clinched the lead with a try and conversion winning 21-19.

Jim Mallinder, Saints Director of Rugby said to Sky Sports:
"It was one of those close semi-final games. Either side could have won it and today it wasn't our day."

The lead change hands five times throughout the 80 minutes but in terms of semi-final rugby the better team won and a lot of lessons will be leant moving forward into the next season. Saracens face East Midlands rivals, Leicester, next week at Twickenham for the final.

In regards to progression Saints are going in the right direction. In the Guiness Premiership, they were eighth last year and got second this year not to mention the silverware picked up in the last two years including the European Challenge Cup in 2009 & the LV Cup in 2010.

The following Saints players picked up awards at the 2010 Saints Awards ceromony:

- Players' Player of the Year, sponsored by Carlsberg UK - Soane Tonga'uiha
- Supporters' Player of the Year, sponsored by Lifecrown Investments - Soane Tonga'uiha
- Land Rover Discovery of the Season - Courtney Lawes
- Try of the Season, sponsored by Hasmead - Chris Ashton (v Leicester, 31/10/09)
- Clubman of the Year, sponsored Trevor Dighton - Travis Perkins

At the Guiness Premiership 2010 Awards held at the Hilton Metropole in London, Chris Ashton was awarded Player of the Year where Soane Tonga'uiha finished in second place. Phil Dowson was also nominated for the award & Tonga'uiha, Dowson and Ashton were also named in the Sky Sports Dream Team, along with lock Juandre Kruger, who left Saints this year.

All in all a very successful season of rugby and we are all itching for the start of next!

Please don't forget prints and posters are still available to purchase through our Northampton Saints Megastore!