Northampton Saints

The stripes across the shirt were not there from the start: the black and green hoops with a gold line were added in 1905, a marker of a match against the touring Original All Blacks, and they have stayed the club's signature since.

The name traces back further still, to 1880 and to St James' Church, from which Northampton St. James took its title before the shorter version stuck. Franklin's Gardens has seen the club drop out of the top flight once, in 2007, and come straight back up the following year, which says something about how quickly Northampton have tended to correct course when things go wrong.

Silverware has come in different shapes. The 2000 Heineken Cup final against Munster was won 9-8, a scoreline that belongs to a different era of the game, while the 2014 Premiership final needed extra time to separate Northampton from Saracens, 24-20. More recently the club beat Bath 25-21 for the 2024 title and added another in 2026 against Exeter Chiefs. Across the East Midlands, Leicester Tigers remain the fixture that matters most, the derby that Franklin's Gardens fills out for regardless of league position.