Northampton Saints 2025/26: Tom Vickers' season preview

For the first time since 2021, Saints will start a league campaign at home, welcoming what could be a refreshed and reinvigorated Exeter Chiefs to Northampton.

And though last season didn’t go as hoped in the Gallagher PREM, the sensational run to the Investec Champions Cup final has provided a template for Saints to build from in the weeks and months ahead.

The talent in this team is clear.

Now they just need to hope they can get their best players on the field far more often than they were able to last season.

That is a big talking point ahead of the big kick-off this weekend, and here are a few more…

Thoughts on the new signings

After finishing eighth last season, it felt like Saints could do with a bit of a lift and a little regeneration on the personnel front. And they have got just that with a set of summer signings who feel like extremely shrewd recruits. They all bring something different, but they all feel like they have plenty of strings to their personal bows, too. Former Clermont Auvergne ace Anthony Belleau doesn't just bring style at fly-half, he has already shown he brings substance, making important tackles and even winning a breakdown penalty to put the seal on the PREM Rugby Cup win at Saracens last Friday. South African lock JJ van der Mescht isn't just a bulldozer, he can also shift, as he showed when he scored against Saints for Stade Français back in January. Callum Chick isn't just a natural leader, as he showed when skippering Newcastle, he is also potentially the best try-scoring No.8 of all time. Okay, that may be an over-exaggeration, but what do you expect when he has just racked up a first-half hat-trick at Saracens? And then there is Italy star Danilo Fischetti, who is not just a strong scrummager but also a prop who can make a massive impact around the park. Saints will hope to have unearthed some more gems in the likes of Zimbabwe tighthead Cleopas Kundiona and ex-Coventry wing James Martin, but there is no doubt who their four headline signings are and what they can bring to this already impressive squad.

Potential breakthrough campaigns

There are several candidates here, a few of who are in the matchday squad on Sunday. First off, let's highlight Craig Wright, a hooker who has been a star of the England Under-20s setup and who has the pace and power to make a big impact on the big stage. With Curtis Langdon set to be out until after Christmas, Wright will hope to stake his claim for starts, starting on Sunday when he wears the No.2 shirt against Exeter. He scored an opportunistic try at Saracens last Friday, using his speed of thought to convert a penalty chance, and he will be one to watch. The other two players to highlight are in the backs as big things are hoped for from Edoardo Todaro and Toby Thame. Todaro is an Italy Under-20s international who has long been talked about as a jewel in the Saints Academy crown. He can play various positions and already seems to have a build suited to top-level action. He has a low centre of gravity and is a hard player to stop as he has excellent footwork and awareness. As for Thame, he was the Blakiston Challenge winner this summer and prior to that he had already been talked up by Saints boss Phil Dowson, who says the centre has 'an outrageous ceiling'. Those claims have been backed up by some strong pre-season performances and Thame will have plenty of chances to shine after Burger Odendaal departed at the end of the previous campaign.

Who could return to the limelight?

Tom Pearson arrived at Saints to richly-deserved fan fare back in 2023 as he left the sad demise of London Irish behind him for a fresh start at Northampton. He had tormented Saints in an Irish shirt and was one of the most feared back row forwards in England's top division. Two years on, he is obviously an established figure at Saints, but it almost feels like he's going under the radar these days as he's not talked about anywhere near as much as when he made the move to the Gardens. Pearson has suffered untimely injuries that have prevented him from building up real momentum, notably towards the end of last season when a knee problem ruled him out of the Champions Cup final and left him without enough time to impress enough to go on England's tour of Argentina and the USA. But Pearson's pedigree and ability is undoubted and you wouldn't bet against him being one of the stars of this season's Gallagher PREM. A word here also for Robbie Smith and Sam Graham, who have shown incredible character to come back from long-term knee injuries and who feel like important new signings for Saints as they add such strength and depth to a squad that was shorn of it last season.

Game to get most excited about

Derby-days will always be close to, or top, of the list, but this season a few other fixtures really catch the eye. The trip to the newly-named Newcastle Red Bulls next month will be fascinating as it will be interesting to see how the environment at Kingston Park has changed. The trip to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium to face Saracens on the weekend of March 28 is another date to circle for Saints fans as that venue looks to be one of the best around and the black, green and gold have yet to grace it with their presence, though they did come agonisingly close to going there for the Champions Cup final of 2024, narrowly missing out to Leinster in the semi-finals. However, the match that many will already be finding a way to get to comes on January 11, when Saints go to Union Bordeaux Bègles. That will be a repeat of the Champions Cup final, which left a sour taste in the mouth, not only because of the result but also because of the Bordeaux reaction to it. Will another false narrative be peddled by the French giants in the build-up to January's rematch? Will Henry Pollock strangely still be a target for the Top 14 team? And can Saints serve up some welcome revenge? There will be so many talking points that the fixture at Stade Jacques Chaban-Delmas will really be one to watch.

Hopes and fears

The fears can predominantly be summed up with one word: availability. It was a constant thorn in Saints' side last season because although every team has to deal with injuries in what is such a brutal sport, the black, green and gold suffered so many that they simply couldn't cope over the course of an attritional league campaign. Week after week, big names were ruled out of big games. It all started with Alex Mitchell's neck injury that sidelined a scrum-half who would eventually be selected by the British & Irish Lions for the first six matches of the PREM season. Mitchell and half-back partner Fin Smith barely played together during Saints' league campaign, and they weren't the only ones who were absent so often. Burger Odendaal missed so much time due to the knee injury he suffered during the previous season's Premiership final success. He had such an impact during the title run-in but left a big South African hole at centre. Robbie Smith and Sam Graham, key squad members, were hit by serious knee injuries last October, meaning they were unable to play again until this pre-season. Club captain George Furbank broke his arm against Vodacom Bulls back in December and did not play another PREM game after that. The list just went on and on, meaning any potential top-four bid, never mind title challenge, went up in smoke before the flame was even lit. With 15 players missing for Sunday's league opener against Exeter, the fear is that Saints will again be too badly damaged by a lack of availability to mount a significant challenge. But the hope comes from the fact that if they are able to get anywhere near close to a full team out for the majority of their league matches, they can beat anyone. Saints' first-choice 23 is a match for anyone in Europe, as they showed on their way to the Champions Cup final last season. They just need some of the luck they enjoyed during their title-winning 2023/24 campaign and they could fly high again.