Northampton sign league guru Lee Radford

Northampton Saints have confirmed that Lee Radford will be joining the club as an assistant coach, focusing on the team’s defense for the upcoming 2023/24 season. Radford, a 44-year-old rugby league veteran, brings with him a wealth of experience and success as both a player and coach.

During his playing career, Radford made a name for himself with notable stints at Bradford Bulls and Hull FC. He represented Hull FC as the youngest-ever player in 1998 and went on to earn five international caps for England. Radford achieved multiple accolades, including two Super League Grand Final wins with Bradford Bulls in 2003 and 2005, as well as triumphs in the World Club Challenge and Challenge Cup.

Following his retirement from playing in 2011, Radford transitioned to coaching, starting as the defense coach for Hull RUFC in National 2 North. He quickly climbed the coaching ladder, eventually becoming head coach of Hull FC in 2013. Under his leadership, the team secured back-to-back Challenge Cup titles in 2016 and 2017, earning Radford the Super League’s Head Coach of the Year Award in 2016.

Radford’s coaching journey continued as he took the helm at Castleford Tigers in 2022. Additionally, he served as the defense coach for Samoa in the Rugby League World Cup held in England in 2022, guiding the team to the Final.

Phil Dowson, Saints’ Director of Rugby, said: “From the very first meeting we had with Lee, Sam [Vesty] and I were impressed by the clarity of his philosophy, the simplicity of the principles that underpinned it, and his enthusiasm for the challenge,” said Dowson.

“If you couple that with his experience as a coach at club and international level in rugby league, he brings some fantastic leadership skill and a new perspective on our game which we’re very excited about.

“Lee’s very ambitious, committed and driven to succeed, and we feel like he brings an edge to our group and will connect with the players really well.

“He will have a lot to learn working in rugby union, coming into our set-up from a rugby league background, but clearly there is a great heritage of coaches who have made that transition very successfully. He will look at things through a different lens and we hope we can make some significant improvements based on those ideas.”

Radford said: “Speaking to Phil and Sam gave me a really good feeling of what Northampton Saints are about, and also a great indication about their relationship as well, as you can tell there is a real closeness there in terms of how they work together.

“That was really appealing to me, as those relationships are so important within an elite rugby environment, and coming down to look around the Club just reaffirmed all the great things they said about the place, the people, and the infrastructure here.

“Saints places the youth structure and production of homegrown talent at the very heart of what they do, which really closely aligns to my experience during my coaching career so far as well.

“The brand of rugby Northampton already plays is really appealing and exciting to watch, but my job now is to add some stiffness and resilience where I can to this team, so we can really forge our own identity defensively and make some big improvements.

“Moving from league into union is a massive challenge, but a very exciting one. I still have a lot to learn about rugby union, but I’ve had some great conversations with the likes of Kevin Sinfield, Martin Gleeson, and Jamie Langley already about the game and how to best make that transition, so I can’t wait to get to work.”