Northampton Saints' superb display shows the English domestic game is in rude health

You can buy success but you cannot buy heart and soul.

Franklin’s Gardens has
always been a wonderful place to watch rugby.

It still is.

The trappings of
professionalism, the big money, the importing of foreign talent.

Be it
George North from across the Welsh border, or the Pisi brothers, George and
Ken, Samoans via New Zealand, they have not frayed the umbilical cord that
attaches Saints players to the community.

The bottom line matters but so too
does the shirt.




Northampton have shown how to get things right on the field, opening the
defence of their titl…