It has been well documented that the transfer of Chris Ashton from Northampton Saints to Saracens has been filled with unwanted trouble and accusation. Both clubs involved are not exactly best of friends when it comes to signing of players and the methods at which they tend to dominate the English game. It started back in 2010 when Saints loosehead prop Soane Tonga'uiha agreed to join Saracens then backtracked to sign a new 3 year deal to stay at Franklin Gardens, bad blood was left in the air. So when rugby league convert Ashton made the decision to not renew his contract with Northampton, there was only one place he was going to go.
Being a Northampton Saints fan myself, you see the team sheet every week with his name on it, you get instantly excited and confident that there was always a probability of scoring tries and tries that make rugby a glorious sport. Just look at his try scoring record for both the Saints and England, in 106 games for Northampton he has scored 90 tries. That is unheard of anywhere in rugby and I don't think we will see as good as a finisher for a long time yet. Internationally he has 15 tries from 20 games. For all his arrogance and show man ship, you cannot disrespect what he brings to any team.
At first Saints fans were angry that he would want to leave what they call the home of rugby to move to money bags Saracens. But that widespread opinion has changed because they believe no player is bigger than a club regardless of who that player is and instead the management prefer to develop the upcoming youngsters in Jamie Elliot and Anders Mogenson, only time will tell if they realise their potential. But what is pleasing the fans is the exposure to first team experience for Elliot who is starting to show everyone why he is so highly regarded by Mallinder and co. In the last few matches however with the Saints England contingent missing, the team have lacked the cutting edge to score tries from seemingly dead situations. That is what Ashton gives you.
I hasten to add that Chris Ashton's incredible success is not just down to him but the players around him like Ben Foden, James Downey and Bruce Reihana who have all laid on many easy try scoring opportunities for him to finish and they rightly deserve some credit for their part. But what makes Ashton the player he is regardless of his discipline, is the way in which he reads the game and line so early that he spots a gap in the tightest of defences and then makes the text book run where he slices through the defence at ease. Not many in world rugby are able to fully utilise this skill and is solely the reason why Saracens are willing to splash out on him.
I do believe that Ashton is the last piece of the puzzle for Saracens; they have the potential, the quality and the ability to play exciting running rugby but have missed that player who can finish of those moves. Sarries have a huge squad and have the players in Brad Barritt, Owen Farrell, Derick Hougaard and Michael Tagicakibau to trouble and dominate any team in England and Europe but it will be interesting to see how Brendan Venter utilises Ashton within his squad. You would presume the world's best finisher would start every game and be one of the first on the team sheet; however the fact is that on current form he deserves to be on the bench both at Vicarage road and at the Gardens.
In conclusion Saracens have got themselves a world class talent that can get better and better and from an English point of view I hope he does. The saints will definitely miss him and again I hope they splash out on trying to get another finisher of his quality, if they have a realistic chance of dominating the English game for years to come. Again it is only time that will tell if Ashton made the right call or not.
Credit - Clive Mason
