Ashton tells Saints he will not be playing for them next season.

First topic message reminder :

Ballsy move, especially for a player who in my opinion is off form and over rated when at his best. How do you think this'll pan out?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/16551828.stm

Yappy I've heard rumours of Delve being offered contracts by Cardiff, Glaws, Saints and Tigers. I would imagine that the other Welsh regions are keeping an eye on him as well.

I think people need to get off Ashton's back. The Saints are no Saints either they didn't even let Samu Manoa go to the world cup. It's all business people.

I think people need to get off Ashton's back. The Saints are no Saints either they didn't even let Samu Manoa go to the world cup. It's all business people..

Nope. They would have had to release him to the RWC, of that the club has zero choice because it's an IRB defined test window. Samu Manoa made himself unavailable to the USA in order to attract a contract from Saints who were after RWC cover. He used his availability to get a foot in the door and open up the chance for a longer term deal. He made the business decision and he and Saints benefitted.

Can't see the problem with Ashton moving, but it's Ashton - some people love to hate etc etc. Seems to me like Saints did alright by him and vice versa, demonstrated by the fact it seems a pretty amicable parting of the ways. People move jobs, and why shouldn't they.

My bigger concern is from an England perspective. I'm really not convinced Sarries will bring him on. His defence and kick chase will no doubt come on leaps and bounds...great. Strettle seems to be doing well, and i rate Short and Wyles, but they're hardly spoilt with the amount of ball they get. I'm sure he'll improve Sarries, i'm not convinced they'll improve him.

yappy:

gloucester have made contact with delve. tigers have also offered to pay for his flight back to the uk to show him around welford road. worcester have recently made contact with him, and seem really interested. bath is another club who wants him back (apparently they tried really hard to sign him before he went to melbourne) . the main offers he's had have been from france & japan.....but it looks like he wants to come back to the uk. but i think he is weighing up his options at the moment.

Hood83 wrote:Can't see the problem with Ashton moving, but it's Ashton - some people love to hate etc etc. Seems to me like Saints did alright by him and vice versa, demonstrated by the fact it seems a pretty amicable parting of the ways. People move jobs, and why shouldn't they.

My bigger concern is from an England perspective. I'm really not convinced Sarries will bring him on. His defence and kick chase will no doubt come on leaps and bounds...great. Strettle seems to be doing well, and i rate Short and Wyles, but they're hardly spoilt with the amount of ball they get. I'm sure he'll improve Sarries, i'm not convinced they'll improve him.

Have to agree, it looks like this deal was probably agreed sometime last week with everything being signed this week. I'm one of those who loves to hate Ashton but he's done nothing wrong here. Not sure the parting is quite as amicable as the statements make out given that Ashton has been dropped for this weekends game - given that Saints have injuries to some big players I think Mallinder may have made a mistake here as this game is still an important one regarding european seeding points.

I actually think that Sarries would be a good move for Ashton, he will most likely be in a rotation which will be no bad thing but I think Sarries are a club with genuine ambition and a strong vision on how that is to be achieved. The foreigners they have brought in add quality and experience of the big competitions, they have a solid mix of young and old and they seem to be a pretty disciplined outfit. (When I say disciplined I mean in the sense that they are good at playing to a game plan that suits their own strenghts)