Courtney Lawes and Dylan Hartley have a new deal with the current champions: Northampton. These two are among those seven players who have already signed with the Saints recently.
The hooker and skipper of the club Hartley was previously linked to the fact that he might move to Montpellier, the French club after the World Cup next year but now it is confirmed that he will with Franklin’s Gardens on a three-year contract.
Since he joined in 2005, he has had about 200 first-team appearances and has also earned 61 England caps and Courtney who joined in 2007 has had 36 appearances on nationals. Hartley had mentioned in his column in The Sun that it is true that he was offered a position on the French team Montpellier which would have paid him a lot more money but then again, money is not everything in life.
He said that he doesn’t want to come about as someone great but he is a believer in loyalty and it means a lot to him. He admires men or players who stay or stick with a club, be it in any sport and if he gets the opportunity to end his professional career with Saints, it will make him very proud.
The Saints have shown a great deal of loyalty towards him and particularly in the times when he was having disciplinary issues. It is great that he has got an opportunity to pay back that faith they showed on him.
He says that he is well aware of the fact that being with the Saints mean that he will still be eligible for not only the competition of next year but also the England in the run-up to the 2019 World Cup. He wouldn’t have joined Montpellier until after the world cup anyways.