“We’re up for a fight,” Dorian West tells Richard Cockerill

Northampton Saints forwards coach Dorian West has rubbished suggestions by Leicester boss Richard Cockerill that his side may lack hunger when they set out to defend their hard-won Premiership title next season.
But the former Tigers and England hooker admits creating a dynasty to match those of the Leicester side he played in, and later Wasps, will be hard due to the increasingly competitive nature of English rugby‘s top-flight.
Cockerill this week questioned Northampton‘s desire, but West confidently expects Saints to respond to the target on their heads.
He told The Rugby Paper: “There’s been a bit of chat coming out of Leicester, saying how hard it is to defend a title and that we’re inexperienced at doing that.
“That will bring a new challenge this year and we know that everybody will be desperate to beat us and that we’re going to have to step up and improve.
“The Premiership’s a tight, competitive league, but one thing for sure is we won’t be complacent – we’re fully aware of what’s coming and we’ve talked a lot about those challenges and are working hard to be the best we can be.
“I’ve not witnessed lack of hunger. Talking to Tom Wood and Calum Clark and watching them training over the last three weeks, I don’t know why they’d be putting themselves through what they are if they weren’t hungry for success.
“I’m not sure Richard’s right. When we played together for the Tigers we won the title four years on the trot and, from my experience, when you win something you’re desperate to win it again because it’s the best feeling in the world.”
West spent seven years at Leicester, winning four league titles and two Heineken Cups, but he revealed how ending his old side’s title hopes at last season’s semi-final stage was one of his career highlights.
He explained: “I still live in Leicester so I normally get a lot of grief with the way things have gone over the last few years, and there’s been plenty of chat about how good Leicester are compared to Northampton.
“But it seems to have gone very quiet at the minute and there’s not been much talk about rugby in my presence!
“We’ve had close battles over the years and not quite come out on top, so it was really pleasing to do it on that stage in front of a passionate Saints crowd – one of the best occasions and atmospheres I’ve witnessed.
“I’m more than happy with what happened last season and we just need to make sure we can do it again, because Leicester are a quality side and they always seem to raise their game when they play the Saints.”
As for creating a title-winning dynasty, West adds: “If you look back to when Leicester and Wasps dominated, they were much stronger and quite a bit in front of the opposition.
“But I look at the league now and I don’t see it that way – it’s very competitive now, it’s fine margins and there’s not very much between the sides. It would be difficult now to win for a continual period of three or four years but I don’t see any reason why, with us being in the final last year as well, we can’t do it again. We’re certainly there or thereabouts.”
Saints have been quiet on recruitment, signing only half-back Joel Hodgson from Newcastle, but West believes that is a sign of strength and has full faith in an academy that has seen a host of young stars bursting onto the scene.
He said: “There’s not a great deal of change playing-wise and we just need to keep our eye out so that if there are any quality players around who we see fitting into our style, we are on top of it.
“But we’re thrilled that we haven’t had to change the core of our squad. We’ve got a great group of lads who are settled, enjoy where they are, don’t want to leave and are really keen to give it another go.
“We’ve got the smallest squad in the league with regards to senior players, so if you’re going to do that you need to have a good academy system that’s producing lots of young lads.
“We’ve been really pleased with the lads coming through – Tom Stephenson, Tom Collins, Alex and Ethan Waller, Ben Nuttley, Mikey Haywood and others – and that’s really exciting. It’s going to be a bright future.”
Europe remains the Holy Grail – can Saints win the inaugural European Rugby Champions Cup?
“Definitely!” says a bullish West. “It’s harder now with some of these French sides and you look at the squad Toulon have and they’ve got unbelievable players – three deep in most positions – so being in those groups makes it tough.
“But on a one-off occasion, if you have a bit of luck and get all your players on the pitch, you can beat anyone. We’re looking forward to the Champions Cup.”
NEALE HARVEY
*This article was first published in The Rugby Paper on July 27.