Saints stalwart Wood explains why honesty has always been his policy

When they have needed someone to emerge from the changing room to explain what has gone wrong, Wood has fronted up.

And not only has he fronted up, but he has delivered interviews that have captured the imagination.

Wood not only answers the question, he expands on it, to the point where you can have five-minute interviews where only a couple of inquisitions have been made.

It is a refreshing approach, as so many so often go the other way, going into their shell after their side have been beaten.

But not Wood.

“It’s not necessarily something I’ve cultivated or made a conscious effort to do, other than the fact it’s easy really,” said the 33-year-old when asked about his approach to speaking to the media.

“I just speak relatively honestly.

“I obviously don’t want to throw anyone under the bus. Sometimes brutal honesty can be a bad thing and you’ve got to have a little bit of a filter.

“But generally I just try to speak honestly.

“Also, there are times where coaches, at any club, not necessarily just Northampton, can feel like it reflects badly on them if a player says anything a bit too close to the bone.

“But fans aren’t stupid - they know and you might as well just front it up if it’s not going well.

“If you underperform, if you got your preparation wrong, the opposition are better on the day, or whatever it was you might as well just face up to it and own it.

“There’s no point saying we’ll take the positives out of a really poor performance because the fans don’t appreciate that.

“It will stand you in better stead in the long run to have a degree of honesty.”

And what Wood says to the media clearly doesn’t have too many differences to what is said in the confines of the Saints dressing room.

“You obviously take a few of the expletives out of there but other than that it’s really the same message,” Wood said.

“Some people are really political about it and try to be overdiplomatic but generally it’s just an honest approach that is needed without trying to be detrimental to the team or the coaches or any individuals.

“If you have a bad performance you’re better off just owning up to it as soon as possible so you can take the lessons from it and move on.

“There’s no point in pretending otherwise.

“You owe it to the fans and everyone else who has paid good money and is watching.

“You can’t celebrate wins if you can’t own up to the difficult days.”

In June 2016, Wood was named full-time Saints captain having filled in to good effect when the likes of Dylan Hartley and Phil Dowson were absent in years gone by.

The season wasn’t to go as well as Saints wanted as their struggles after topping the Gallagher Premiership table in 2015 went on. They eventually finished seventh.

So what was it like being captain and how much did it alter Wood’s mentality?

Wood replied: “In this last year or so, with Alex (Waller) and Tei officially captaining the squad, it’s allowed the likes of me to be a bit more relaxed and not to feel like I’m burdened with it because you can be burdened with it, especially if things aren’t going well and if you’re not seeing eye to eye with the club as a whole and the coaches involved, which I was struggling with, not that I’ve got any bitterness or ill feeling towards anyone now.

“It was just a challenge at the time that we weren’t really on the same page and I was at a bit of a loss as to how to fix those problems.

“It gets on top of you when you’re so emotionally invested it can grind you down.

“But at the moment, not being captain, I can step back and just really enjoy playing and get stuck in.

“But then when I feel like a voice is needed, I can do that positively and voluntarily rather than feeling bogged down with it 24/7 and trying to fix the whole thing on my own.”

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