Murray finds cold comfort in return
It seems that Euan Murray is missing his mum's food, but that might not be enough to tempt the behemoth back to Scotland.
The 28-year-old prop has been in superb form this season and the Scotland Rugby Union are keen to get their big stars out of the Premiership and back playing for Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Head coach Frank Hadden was pretty upset that despite visiting all the Premiership clubs he then saw his 10 English-based Scots, including Saints’ Murray and Sean Lamont, pulled out of a training session ahead of the autumn internationals by the Premier Rugby League.
Under IRB laws, players only have to be released five days before an international, so the PRL stuck to that, much to the annoyance of Hadden.
The SRU are now trying to tempt their exiles back to Scotland, so they can have more control over them.
Murray, who signed from Glasgow ahead of last season, was pretty coy when asked, but gave enough hints to give the impression that he would prefer to stay at Franklin’s Gardens.
The tighthead said: “My mum phones me up every night and offers me hot dinners but whether the rugby is good enough?...
“I’m not thinking about that at the moment, I’m just concentrating on playing well for Saints and performing well and helping the team get up the league.
“I don’t know what the temperature is down here at the moment, but it is pretty cold. But I remember it being even colder in Scotland, I don’t know if I could go back to that.”
Saints coach Paul Grayson has worked closely with rising star Stephen Myler, but is now looking to see the youngster add a running game to his fly-half role.
Grayson, who won 32 caps for England and a World Cup winner’s medal, has taken Myler under his wing since signing him from rugby league outfit Salford City Reds in 2006.
The 24-year-old is improving with every game at fly-half for Saints and his kicking this season has been Grayson-esque, with only Jonny Wilkinson having a better kicking percentage than his 78 per cent success rate in the Premiership – and he has only had 13 kicks.
Myler’s kicking out of hand is also superb, but now Grayson is looking to add more to his game to make him the complete fly-half.
“He needs to run with the ball a lot more,” said Grayson. “But he knows that and knows where he needs to improve his game.”
Myler has only played 56 games of union so is still very much a work in progress, but he already controls a game superbly, putting Saints in the right position on the field.
“His game management is improving all the time,” said Grayson. “But the good thing is that he knows he has to play well to stay in the side.”
Academy front-row forward Jon Vickers has signed on loan with Bedford Blues until the end of the season.
He joins fellow Saints youngsters lock Phil Hoy and winger Will Harries, who has been getting rave reviews, at Goldington Road.
There are also ex-Saints Ian Vass, Paul Tupai and Dan Richmond at the National League One club, who are having a good season and sit fourth in the table.
Vickers could have a tough introduction today as Bedford travel to Exeter.
The 20-year-old Bristolian, who can play at either prop or hooker, has made one substitute appearance for Saints, but with Bedford suffering a front-row injury crisis, he could come straight into side.
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Weather for Northampton
Wednesday 08 February 2012
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