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Kudos Tie-up with Northampton Saints
Kudos, the events caterer, has put pen to paper on a £ 12 million contract with the Aviva Premiership Rugby Union side the Northampton Saints for the next 7 years. The deal will see the catering giants take over the stadium hospitality as well as the public catering services at The Jimmies’ Franklin’s Gardens Stadium, starting from the 2012/13 season. This is one of the most lucrative deals that will see The Saints become one of the top earning sides in the division alongside the likes of Saracens FC and Harlequins FC as they have gone a long way in securing a safe future for the club in terms of finances.
Kudos, which is owned by Crown Group, will be providing food during the home matches to the hospitality suites, corporate boxes, bars as well as the public retail outlets as part of their match day services. Moreover, they will also look after all the catering services as well as venue management at non-match day programs which includes private parties, corporate events at the events’ space and conference centre of the stadium.
According to Jon Pryce, the Managing Director of Kudos, the catering giant is absolutely thrilled at being able to secure with the Northampton Saints and they are looking forward to providing the best culinary as well as retail expertise to the club’s Franklin’s Gardens Stadium. The stadium is currently under a redevelopment project which will see new lounges, bars as well as conference facilities installed inside the stadium as part of a multi-million pound package.
Allan Robson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Northampton Saints also expressed his excitement at the prospect of partnering one of the biggest names in the culinary industry in England and was looking forward to a long and successful relationship with the company.
Harrison Targets Saxons Spot
Teimana Harrison, the highly rated youngster in the playing roster of the Aviva Premiership side the Northampton Saints has made clear his decision to play for the English national team in the near future.
Originally hailing from Opitiki, a small village town in New Zealand, the 19 year old has his eyes firmly set on a berth in The Saxons squad after his breakthrough season for The Jimmies earned him plaudits from all sections of the game in England. The youngster broke into the first team of The Saints in the business end of the season after he impressed the management with his performance while playing for the Wanderers.
The teenager swapped his motherland to play for The Jimmies in the Aviva Premiership after the club captain Dylan Hartley recommended the player to recruitment and development manager Dusty Hare. The youngster had caught the eye of Hartley as he had seen him perform prior to the kick off of the Rugby World Cup in his homeland. And since his arrival, it was not only Hartley who was blown away by his performances but also the entire Northampton Saints management who saw him put up some powerful performances for the second side.
And now that he has made the breakthrough into the first team, Harrison is hoping to nail down a regular spot in the first 15 and knows that this will earn him a spot in The Saxons lineup in a year or so. And the Northampton Saints are also eager to hold on to him for a long time as it has been revealed by team boss Jim Mallinder that the club has already secured his services for this year.
Now that they have tied him up, it’s worth watching if The Jimmies turn him into a world class player.
CLARK BANNED
It is less than four weeks since Northampton’s Calum Clark was suspended for 32 weeks for breaking the elbow of Leicester’s Rob Hawkins. Clark deliberately hyper extended Hawkins’ arm to cause what Richard Cockerill described as “as bad an injury as I have seen on a rugby field”.
Cockerill’s opposite number, Jim Mallinder has admitted he is finding it hard to put the incident and the fallout from it behind him as he prepares to face the Tigers again this weekend. In particular Mallinder has been critical of Cockerill’s outburst, which is seemingly the polar opposite of Mallinder’s reaction to another controversial incident in last year’s Premiership final when Manu Tuilagi was banned for five weeks for punching Chris Ashton. Mallinder’s reaction was far more controlled than Cockerill’s.
Aside from the Clark incident, Cockerill was also involved in a confrontation with Saints’ forwards coach, Dorian West after the game. The West Midlands derby clashes between the two sides have become ever more fiery in recent years and this weekend’s promises to be equally so with both sides in contention for play off places in the final weeks of the season.
With Saints, Mallinder and Clark all adamant that there was no intent to injury in the elbow breaking incident there is bound to be some friction when the two sides meet again this weekend. In spite of the insistence from Clark at the hearing into his misconduct the panel still found him guilty and handed a hefty ban which will see Clark banned from Rugby until November 2.
Clark will be missed in the Saints run in and Mallinder whilst disappointed is hoping his side can respond in the remainder of the season and secure a play off place starting with a result against the Tigers this weekend. He is keen that this tie will be played at the same intensity as recent clashes without the controversy that has marred the side’s recent games.