Radford was happy to play tour guide as Saints 'swapped Costa del Sol for Hull'

Phil Dowson decided to take his troops north last week as they engaged in training sessions with rugby league side Castleford Tigers and Champ Rugby outfit Doncaster Knights.

And one man it suited more than any other was Hull-born defence coach Lee Radford, who still lives in the land of his birth.

However, though it was on his doorstep, the three-day trip wasn't actually Radford's call.

"It was Dows's idea," Radford said. "With a lot of new blokes coming in and a lot of young faces being promoted from the Academy, he wanted to get away and get on a trip where we were in each others' pockets for a few days.

"Somehow Hull got tossed up - I don't know how.

"It was 15 minutes away from where I live but I was more fatigued last week than I am this week travelling (to Northampton). I was chaperoning everyone while we were there and it was good.

"We did some things we normally wouldn't do. We had a joint training session with Castleford Tigers, led by both coaching teams, so we got to show our big boys what it's like to get back onside 10 metres.

"They applied themselves really well and then on the Thursday coming back down to Northampton, we had a session against Doncaster as well. It was great for us because it was the first time we've been able to go 15 against 15 this pre-season due to lack of numbers so it was good and we'll be better for that."

Radford was more than happy to play tour guide in Hull.

He explained: "We went to my restaurant - it’s called The Lodge, if you're up that way come and give us a shout - we had a feed, we had a round of golf and a night around Beverley so it was good!

"Coming from rugby league, our pre-season was notoriously in November, December in the really poor months weather wise so we always would go abroad for that reason.

"But our pre-seasons here are in the summer so we're not chasing the heat as much.

"We've swapped the Costa del Sol for Hull."

Saints are now halfway through their pre-season work, but they remain without several of their international stars.

"We've still got a heap of players missing," Radford said.

"All the international boys are still away and we start getting them filtering in next week.

"We're very young as a squad at the moment so it's just about nailing down the fundamentals of what our skill sets are and that's been really important for them.

"We had nine lads come up from the Academy programme so we've been trying to get them physically ready and teach them the ABCs of the game, which is going to put them in a better place.

"When the international players come back, our training levels are naturally going to get higher, and the sessions are going to get quicker, so getting the other lads up to speed is where we're at right now."

And it won't be too difficult for the players who have been away during the summer to settle back in.

"They'll be used to defending in a number of different systems over the years and they're internationals for a reason - because their rugby IQ is obviously very high," Radford said.

"They quickly fall back into it, but for the young blokes, the Academy lads, they train twice a week on an evening if they're lucky, so it's almost starting from scratch."