Since November of last year, the Northampton Saints Community have been partnered with UON’s Mens Rugby Union.
After a year, the link-up has been deemed a huge success by both the Saints and members of the University’s rugby team.
The Bears have a lot of benefits thanks to the partnership, but one of the main positives was the introduction of coach Matt Wainwright.
The 24-year-old is enjoying his first Head Coach role:
“The Uni used to be coached by Reece Marshall who was a Saints player at the time.
“But he was sent out on loan to London Irish so they needed a coach and they linked us up.
“For me it’s massive. It’s my first team as a Head Coach so it’s a massive learning curve for me as a young coach.”
Bears’ Head Coach: Matty Wainwright
He also believes the team have come on leaps and bounds in the last year.
“For the University, I think there’s of value to what we’ve done.
“You can see both on the pitch but also off it we’ve got a nicer group of people who treat others better.
“The offering we can give to kids coming into Northampton is massive now.”
Following a training session at the Northampton Saints High Performance centre two weeks ago, Wainwright is happy to make the most of such opportunities.
“I just simply asked to use it and they (Saints) were more than happy to let us go in and do a session.
“In the next few months moving forwards, if it’s free for an evening we can make use of it try and get the best learning possible in a learning environment.
“We are really lucky as a society. No one else has a space that they can just ask to use if it’s free.”
@under_the_uon_posts The Bears had just a *slight* change of scenery for training tonight 👀🐻 #UONBears #NorthamptonSaints #universityrugby #fyp
With it being a multi-year partnership, the hope is that young players can, not just perform to their best ability, but possibly reach professional level.