Saints scrum guru Ferguson discusses Franks' switch to loosehead

Matt Ferguson has explained Ben Franks' close-season switch to loosehead at Saints.
Ben Franks has made the move to loosehead (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)Ben Franks has made the move to loosehead (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Ben Franks has made the move to loosehead (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

Former New Zealand international Franks was playing a tighthead for the club last season, but he is now competing for the No.1 shirt with the likes Alex Waller and Francois van Wyk.

Saints have signed Franks's brother, Owen, who will move to Franklin's Gardens on November 1.

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And that means both World Cup-winning siblings could be part of the scrum in Northampton this season.

"It was a conversation that happened at the end of last season based on the excellent signing of Ben's brother, who is an out-and-out tighthead," said assistant coach Ferguson, who does a lot of work on the Saints scrum.

"There's not many people in the world who have played tighthead and loosehead internationally.

"Franksy played a lot of rugby at loosehead at London Irish in his last year there so he's very comfortable doing that.

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"We've got Hilly (Paul Hill), Ehren (Painter), Owen and that's a pretty strong tighthead ladder.

"You jump across to loosehead and we've got Sue (Alex Waller), Franner (Francois van Wyk) and Ben Franks and that's pretty strong as well.

"You're not going to meet a more diligent and hard working player than Ben and the games he's played this year have shown he has a lot to offer from a loosehead point of view.

"So I'm excited to see him take his chances when he gets them."

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