Van Velze pays tribute to Saints stalwarts Dickson and Myler

GJ van Velze says the desire of stalwarts such as Lee Dickson and Stephen Myler drove Saints to glory last season.
AGONY TO ECSTASY - GJ van Velze has hailed Lee Dickson and Stephen Myler for steering Saints to silverware (Picture: Linda Dawson)AGONY TO ECSTASY - GJ van Velze has hailed Lee Dickson and Stephen Myler for steering Saints to silverware (Picture: Linda Dawson)
AGONY TO ECSTASY - GJ van Velze has hailed Lee Dickson and Stephen Myler for steering Saints to silverware (Picture: Linda Dawson)

The South Africa No.8 moved to Worcester this summer but was able to sign off in style at Northampton as they claimed double delight.

Van Velze didn’t play in the Amlin Challenge Cup or Aviva Premiership final wins, but did make an impact during the course of the campaign.

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And he believes the longest-serving of his former team-mates, who had previously tasted Heineken Cup final and Premiership final agony, were the catalyst for the trophy-laden campaign.

“Winning both trophies, especially in the final in extra-time was great,” said van Velze, who made 31 appearances at Saints, scoring five tries.

Alex Waller, who had been immense all season came up with the score and it was amazing. You’ve got to feel for a team like Saracens, who ended up losing the double, but all credit to our players because they were great all season.

“We won 13 games in a row at one point and that made a big difference to our squad, just the fact we kept on winning. We had such a good bunch of guys, a lot of depth and that helped a lot.

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“It wasn’t a one or two season thing. Northampton were busy with things before I even went there (from Blue Bulls) in 2012.

“They had things in place and they are a bunch of guys who work flipping hard. They push each other all the time and they’ve suffered some bad defeats.

“Guys like Stephen Myler and Lee Dickson have been at the club for so long that it hurt so much and it drove us together to get to the top.”

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