{"id":387384,"date":"2026-01-02T18:49:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T18:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/387384\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T18:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T18:49:08","slug":"callum-chick-revels-in-northamptons-chase-of-lost-causes-after-culture-shock-northampton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/387384\/","title":{"rendered":"Callum Chick revels in Northampton\u2019s chase of lost causes after culture shock | Northampton"},"content":{"rendered":"

To see what Callum Chick brings to any side he plays in, watch the 55th minute of Northampton\u2019s electrifying win <\/a>at the Rec last Saturday. Henry Arundell is speeding down the Bath right, nearly into Saints\u2019 22, after a defensive error by Henry Pollock. A try for the champions looks a certainty before the flanker desperately dives at Arundell and dislodges the ball from his grasp.<\/p>\n

A dextrous pick-up by George Hendy allows him to sprint downfield before setting up Pollock to dive over \u2013 13 seconds after Arundell was threatening at the other end.<\/p>\n

\u201cI showed that clip [to the squad] a couple of times,\u201d said Northampton\u2019s director of rugby, Phil Dowson, while preparing to meet Harlequins at Franklin\u2019s Gardens on Saturday. \u201cI wanted to highlight the work of Chicky, chugging back as fast as he possibly\u00a0could and just about getting a hand on him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat effort, that hustle back and\u00a0chasing lost causes is what\u00a0gave\u00a0us the opportunity to re-apply pressure and go the length. It\u2019s those small things \u2013 the\u00a0ability to stick at it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chick concedes he can\u2019t take credit for the try \u2013 \u201cI sat on the floor and watched Hendy run 80 metres\u201d \u2013 but says Northampton scoring in such ruthless fashion from a turnover is no accident: \u201cWe pride ourselves on being one of the hardest-working teams off the ball. Those turnover opportunities or where the ball\u2019s on the ground can be the best. We practise it in training and speak about it all the time so it isn\u2019t just luck, it\u2019s a skill we practise and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The combative back-rower left Newcastle last summer after a decade, citing his ambition to add to the two England caps he won under Eddie Jones in 2021<\/a>. Having endured some difficult days last season, Northampton are riding high in the Prem and the 29-year-old\u2019s arrival is one reason they have become harder to beat.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a hard edge to the pack,\u201d he says. \u201cIf you look at some of the stats around dominant carries and dominant tackles<\/a> we\u2019re top, or near top, in all of them.\u201d Northampton do indeed lead the way for dominant contacts, dominant carries and dominant tackles.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople like [South African lock] JJ van der Mescht, who\u2019s a big human, really help with that. They are a bunch of good blokes who want to work hard for each other. You can have 15 fantastic rugby players who don\u2019t want to be there and you\u2019re terrible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Callum Chick claims a lineout against Bath. Photograph: Simon King\/ProSports\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Swapping Newcastle for Northampton must have been a culture shock although his fellow geordie, the prop Trevor Davison, has helped Chick settle in. What does he do for fun in his new home town? \u201cThat\u2019s a great question,\u201d he says. \u201cWhen you find something, will you let me know?<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to lie, it\u2019s a great town, but there\u2019s not a huge amount to do. I live with [fellow flanker] Josh Kemeny so spend time with him and we get on really\u00a0well. We go for the odd coffee\u00a0or to the sauna.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a more serious note, Chick\u00a0explains how the rugby-obsessed Saints fans have welcomed him: \u201cEveryone\u2019s lovely. If you wander the streets people say: \u2018Well done\u2019 or \u2018How\u2019s it going?\u2019 It\u2019s a bit different from Newcastle\u00a0in that sense, that\u2019s a\u00a0very football-dominated city so you could wander about town pretty inconspicuously.<\/p>\n

\u201cNorthampton is really nice and everyone comes down on a Saturday \u2013 it\u2019s another sellout this weekend. They love their rugby and that community feel makes all\u00a0the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Saints appear well-equipped for an assault on domestic and European silverware \u2013 Dowson rested several key players for the victory in Bath \u2013 and Chick knows that will be crucial come spring. \u201cIt\u2019s a long season so rotation and having that strength in depth is really important,\u201d he says. \u201cTo get to knockout rugby you have to win\u00a0games. But when knockout rugby comes, if you\u2019ve had the chance to rotate and keep boys fresh, you\u2019re in a much better place than if you\u2019ve flogged everyone for\u00a0six to seven months.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former Newcastle captain is happy to see his boyhood club enter an exciting new era as the Red Bulls<\/a> \u2013 \u201chugely important and hugely exciting for the area\u201d, he says. \u201cThe players and fans deserve it, but on a deeper level it was looking pretty ominous at the end of last year for people having jobs. Just to keep people employed is hugely important. They\u2019ve done so much work over many years and it would have been horrible to see it go.\u201d<\/p>\n

Newcastle will always have a\u00a0place in Chick\u2019s heart, but victory\u00a0over Harlequins \u2013 and keeping Northampton on top \u2013 is all\u00a0that matters now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"To see what Callum Chick brings to any side he plays in, watch the 55th minute of Northampton\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":387385,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-387384","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/387385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}