Strugglers blame superstars

Northampton chairman Keith Barwell believes the club has acquired too many superstars.

Northampton Saints chairman Keith Barwell has made the staggering admission that the club's poor form is down to having too many 'superstars'.

Saints are second-from-bottom in the Guinness Premiership, battling relegation rather than mounting the expected assault on the top four.

A catalogue of injuries to key players has contributed to their woes, but Barwell admits the root cause of their problems lies in their transfer strategy.

"Injuries have not been helpful and we are not using that as an excuse, but you can't lose players like Jon Clarke, Ben Cohen, Sean Lamont and Steve Thompson to internationals," the Northampton chairman told Sky Sports News.

"I think we probably spent too much of our wage cap on superstars and not enough in the second level."

England and Saints wing Ben Cohen feels the problem is far simpler though, pointing to crippling injuries for their substandard performances.

"When you lose the entire back line you realise you've got to learn what we are going to do with each other and how we are going to do it," said Cohen.

"In a way it has been a bit of a learning curve."

Team-mate Thompson refuses to use a heavily-populated treatment room as an excuse though.

"There are times when we should have gone on to win games and actually haven't.

"Suddenly the boys have gone into their shell, we have stopped playing the rugby we know we can play and looked for excuses.

"Everyone gets injuries. It's tough, look at Sale for instance, they are still winning games, so we know we have to go out there and put a few W's on the board."