'Nowhere else I'd rather be' - Mitchell so happy to stay with Saints

Those are the words of British & Irish Lions scrum-half Alex Mitchell after he signed a new multi-year contract at Saints.

Mitchell joins half-back partner and England team-mate Fin Smith in committing his future to the black, green and gold.

Since coming off the bench to make his Saints debut against Saracens in the PREM Rugby Cup back in 2017, Mitchell has racked up 147 club appearances and claimed a host of accolades along the way.

Under the tutelage of Chris Boyd, he broke into Saints' senior side during the 2018/19 season, featuring 30 times that term as the black, green and gold reached the PREM play-offs and lifted the PREM Rugby Cup on home soil.

From there Mitchell’s rise saw him earn a senior England debut in 2021/22, as well as claiming both Saints’ players’ player and supporters’ player of the season awards at the close of the term.

The 2023/24 season marked Mitchell’s ninth with the club, a journey that began in 2015 after initially being a part of the Sale Sharks Academy. And it proved to be the Maidstone-born back’s most successful on the club stage as he helped engineer Saints’ journey to the top of the Gallagher PREM table before scoring the match-winning try in the final to see Northampton lift the club’s first league title in a decade.

While injury hampered Mitchell’s involvement for Saints at the start of last season, a trip to Cardiff for the Investec Champions Cup final eventually beckoned after a series of impressive performances from the scrum-half helped propel Phil Dowson's men to their first European final since 2011.

For England, Mitchell has earned 23 caps to date – with more than 1,000 minutes of international rugby spanning three Six Nations campaigns and a Rugby World Cup, where he became his country’s starting scrum-half as England reached the semi-finals, despite missing out on the initial squad.

And this summer Mitchell took his international career one step further when he added several coveted British & Irish Lions caps to his tally, with the tour of Australia seeing the 28-year-old named in all nine matchday squads and running out in two Test matches.

Now he is eager to enjoy more big seasons with Saints after deciding that the Gardens is where his future lies.

“I get to come into the club and train and play alongside lads I’ve grown up with, some of my best friends, and call it work. It’s not lost on me how lucky I am to be able to say that," Mitchell said.

“This group is very special. We’re extremely ambitious, and the drive and focus within the squad to keep getting better is what makes being part of this club so exciting. From joining the Academy as a teenager to now, the support I receive at Saints has been crucial to all my success on the pitch, so I owe a lot to the club’s coaching staff past and present.

“I’ve made some incredible memories over the last couple of years, from winning the PREM to the final whistle in Dublin, and then getting to pull on a red shirt with the Lions over the summer. All those experiences just make you hungry to achieve more – with Saints, England and beyond.

“We feel like we’ve got to right some wrongs after last year. We want to get back to the top of the pile in the PREM, keep pushing forward in Europe, and put some more silverware in our trophy cabinet.

“There’s also no better place to play rugby than cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens. Hearing the incredible support we have in the stands and running out at home never fails to put a smile on my face.

"Playing in front of a full house against Leicester last weekend reminded me why signing on again with Saints was the right decision – I can’t wait for what’s ahead.”