Courtney Lawes: I won't change my mind on England – but I could leave Northampton

Sitting in the stands at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night, Steve Borthwick probably felt like a child whose parents failed to order the must-have, sold-out toy for Christmas as the England head coach watched Courtney Lawes deliver yet another man-of-the-match performance for Northampton.

Lawes is now the gadget that Borthwick cannot possess. He will not be returning to international rugby and yet he continues to perform at an international standard as he demonstrated in the 22-19 victory over Toulon that takes Northampton to two wins from two in the Champions Cup.

The 34-year-old’s desirability has only increased with the spate of injuries to English back-rowers leading up to the Six Nations but Lawes is not having second thoughts about his decision to retire, even if he won’t yet block Borthwick’s number. “I’m just trying to do my thing,” Lawes said. “Being settled back at home makes everything quite a lot easier. I’m just enjoying my rugby and it is what it is, you know. I’m just trying to play well, play for the boys, and we dug in pretty well for each other. The job is not done yet. We’ve got pretty big ambitions this season, but it’s obviously a fantastic start and we couldn’t have done much better.”

It may not just be Borthwick who ends up pining for Lawes, whose contract expires at the end of this campaign. Last season, the negotiations lasted until April and Lawes left his future open-ended, especially with England selection no longer a factor in his decision. “You’re not really meant to talk before Christmas, but I’m pretty happy getting on with my rugby,” Lawes said. “When the contracts come in I’m sure I might have a couple of options. I’m hoping to stay but we’ll see what happens.”

Lawes told Phil Dowson, the Northampton director of rugby, that he wanted to have a period of reflection before the talks begin in earnest but the club are optimistic that he will remain a one-club man. “The way he is playing at the moment I feel he is really enjoying it and enjoying being with these young boys,” Dowson said. “It’s keeping him fresh. We’re very hopeful. We want to keep him.”

There have been few finer club servants than Lawes who grew up just a couple of box kicks away from Franklin’s Gardens and made his debut for the club against Esher in the old National One in 2007. A single Premiership title in 2014 as well as a couple of Challenge Cups probably represent a disappointing return. Yet after knocking off English champions Saracens and the second placed sides in the United Rugby Championship (Glasgow Warriors) and Top 14 (Toulon) in successive weeks, Lawes says that there is now real confidence that Northampton can mix it with anyone.

“Regardless of when I depart, when I retire or whatever, you always want to win silverware and have those memories, and play on the big stages for the big cups,” Lawes said. “It’s something I aspire to do, to win more silverware here. We’re on the right track. We’ve gone a while without winning anything so we want to put that right.

“[The win against Toulon] is a great example for us, and those kind of wins you can really lean on coming up to the second half of the season. You can really grow the belief when the chips are down, as you do have the chance to come back as we did. All I said is we had time, and that’s all you need. We’ve proven we can genuinely score from anywhere. I believed we could and we did.”

Part of Lawes’ confidence stems from the development of Saints’ young players who are now establishing consistency to go with their potential. Tommy Freeman, in particular, has impressed Lawes in his new role at outside centre as one of several players at the Gardens with burning England ambitions.

“He’s a big guy, man,” Lawes said. “He’s 6ft 4in, more than 100kg. For a back, that’s big, and to have that kind of speed as well he’s going to be a really dangerous player. To see him really maturing and performing consistently – that’s what’s going to get him back on the international scene. He deserves it.

“The whole team, a lot of the younger boys have matured a great deal over the last season and the start of this season. We’ve got a lot of boys in the pack – Curtis Langdon is doing great, then Alex Moon and Alex Coles who are performing consistently. Alex Mitchell went to the World Cup and has been on great form since he came back. Furbs [George Furbank] leads the charge with Fraser Dingwall and Freemo. It’s great seeing these good English players playing consistent rugby, playing well, and hopefully they get a shot to do it on the big stage.”