{"id":680317,"date":"2023-12-19T16:18:14","date_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/?p=680317"},"modified":"2023-12-19T16:18:14","modified_gmt":"2023-12-19T16:18:14","slug":"courtney-lawes-confirms-that-he-could-leave-northampton-at-the-end-of-the-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/courtney-lawes-confirms-that-he-could-leave-northampton-at-the-end-of-the-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Courtney Lawes Confirms That He Could Leave Northampton at the End of the Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>Courtney Lawes Confirms That He Could Leave Northampton at the End of the Season<\/h3>\n<p>When Courtney Lawes announced his decision to retire from international rugby, it was considered a bad thing for England but excellent news for Northampton Saints.<\/p>\n<p>The 34-year-old is still a high class forward, capable of having a major impact on the outcome of games \u2013 as he has in the Saints\u2019 impressive start to their Champions Cup campaign.<\/p>\n<p>But here comes the bombshell: Lawes has admitted that he might not renew his Northampton contract, which comes to an end at the conclusion of this season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Pastures New?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A solid start to the Guinness Premiership term of W5 L3, with five bonus points added, reveals why the Saints have been boldly ambitious in their plans for 2023\/24.<\/p>\n<p>Those <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.paddypower.com\/bet\">betting on sports<\/a><\/span><\/span> can still pick up odds of 16\/1 on Northampton lifting the Premiership trophy this season, albeit with Saracens (5\/4), Sale Sharks (7\/2) and Leicester Tigers (6\/1) considered more likely to do so.<br \/>\nBut as confirmed by <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.paddypower.com\/\">Paddy Power news<\/a><\/span><\/span> and other sources, the Saints have got off to an excellent start domestically and on the continent \u2013 they\u2019ve won both of their opening games in the European Champions Cup, too.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Courtney Lawes will retire from England duty at the end of the Rugby World Cup.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BBCRugby?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BBCRugby<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/RWC2023?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#RWC2023<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 BBC Sport (@BBCSport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BBCSport\/status\/1716225560001515897?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">October 22, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Lawes was instrumental in the 22-19 win over Toulon in the latter, picking up the Man of the Match trophy, which explains why Northampton are so desperate to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.telegraph.co.uk\/rugby-union\/2023\/12\/18\/courtney-lawes-england-no-comeback-leave-northampton\/\">open up talks<\/a> on an extended deal for the 34-year-old.<\/p>\n<p>But there\u2019s unlikely to be a shortage of suitors for the back row either, who has spent the entirety of his playing career at the Saints \u2013 will he trade being a one-club man for a late career stint somewhere new, possibly a handsome payday overseas? \u2018I might have a couple of options,\u2019 was Lawes\u2019 diplomatic answer when quizzed about his future.<\/p>\n<p>When he decided to retire from international duty, England\u2019s loss was said to be Northampton\u2019s gain. Now, there\u2019s no guarantees on where Lawes will be lining up next season.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lock Down<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>England head coach Steve Borthwick will no doubt be cursing the timing of Lawes\u2019 retirement.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s sod\u2019s law that a number of his preferred back row forwards have gone down with injury in recent weeks \u2013 making the loss of Lawes feel all the more substantial.<\/p>\n<p>And while England\u2019s Six Nations campaign doesn\u2019t get underway until February 3, Borthwick faces a nervous wait to see which of his sixes, sevens and eights will be available for selection.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Ben Earl is at risk of missing the start of England\u2019s 2024 Six Nations campaign, having suffered a knee injury that could keep him out for up to three months<\/p>\n<p>Read the full story here &#x2b07;&#xfe0f; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/wiu7fSU6iQ\">https:\/\/t.co\/wiu7fSU6iQ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Times Sport (@TimesSport) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TimesSport\/status\/1726676788372226521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 20, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Tom Curry definitely won\u2019t be playing at <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff; text-decoration: underline;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/sport\/2023\/nov\/21\/the-only-option-tom-curry-requires-hip-surgery-and-set-to-miss-six-nations\">the Six Nations<\/a><\/span><\/span> \u2013 his hip injury is so severe that he\u2019s unlikely to play again this season. Ben Earl, meanwhile, was carried off during a Saracens game in November with a knee problem; his current timeline for a return is unknown.<\/p>\n<p>Alternative options are also struggling with injuries or a loss of form, which leaves Borthwick with an almighty headache as he tries to end England\u2019s relatively lengthy trophy drought in the Six Nations.<\/p>\n<p>One solution would be to try and persuade Lawes into a temporary return from retirement; but the 34-year-old has shown in the past that he knows his own mind, which suggests Borthwick will have to look elsewhere.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Courtney Lawes Confirms That He Could Leave Northampton at the End of the Season When Courtney Lawes announced his decision to retire from international rugby, it was considered a bad thing for England but excellent news for Northampton Saints. The 34-year-old is still a high class forward, capable of having a major impact on the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":617942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-680317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-clubs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680317"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680318,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680317\/revisions\/680318"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.intouchrugby.com\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}