Boyd hoping guest player Garside can forge a career at Saints

Chris Boyd believes Karl Garside will go on to play plenty more professional games.
Karl Garside made his Saints debut as a guest player last weekend (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)Karl Garside made his Saints debut as a guest player last weekend (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Karl Garside made his Saints debut as a guest player last weekend (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

And the Saints boss is hoping those will come in the black, green and gold.Garside was given his Northampton debut as a guest player against Bristol Bears in the Premiership Rugby Cup clash at Franklin's Gardens last Saturday.And the Ampthill prop certainly impressed before being replaced by another guest player, Jack Higgins.Boyd has had limited options at tighthead this season due to injuries to the likes of Paul Hill and Jamal Ford-Robinson.And he was determined to give Ben Franks a rest last weekend, with Ehren Painter also unable to play."One of the things you've got to understand is that the Premiership is long and you do need to look after your players - you've got to manage them properly," Boyd said."The PRC is an opportunity for us to bring in young guys, to give guys who haven't been playing in the 23 much to play."We had Jamal Ford-Robinson still battling to play for us this year, Paul Hill will hopefully make his first appearance of the season for us very soon."I'd given Ben Franks the week off, along with 12 other players, to give them some rest because they had played a lot in the first block."And Ehren Painter, who has done a wonderful job for a 20-year-old, hurt his back at training the day before we played Bristol and I had a choice to ring Ben Franks, who was in Paris with his family and bring him back to play."But Karl came in and has played with us a bit because we had other guys injured and he's now got a Saints cap. It's wonderful for him."I suspect that will be the start of his professional career."And when asked whether that will be with Saints, Boyd said: "I hope so, yes."

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