Anyone who thinks personalities have been stripped out of professional sport should spend half an hour in the company of Northampton’s new breakthrough act. At just 22, Craig Wright is already making quite a name for himself at Franklin’s Gardens.
‘Who are you here to see?’ asks Fin Smith as we cross paths outside the club’s media room. The England No 10’s face lights up when I say I am here to meet Wright, the young hooker who has played 21 games so far this season.
‘Proper geeza!’ says Smith. ‘Ask him to get his bling out for you!’
As we settle into a seat at Franklin’s Gardens, the moustachioed Wright promises to fetch his favourite necklace from the changing room at the end of our interview. ‘Me nan gave it to me for my 21st birthday and I only really take it off for rugby,’ he says. ‘It’s pretty heavy – gives me a bad back!
‘I’m from Essex,’ he adds, explaining his accent and his background. ‘My dad was a motorcross rider. He was ninth in Britain and he got us into it when we were old enough. I wasn’t very quick but I was pretty good at bouncing over logs. I had a trials bike but I got rid of it last year because if you get injured, then you’re in trouble.
‘Dad didn’t have a clue about rugby but he was mates with one of the local football coaches, so I played football when I was younger. I had two left feet but I didn’t mind putting my face in front of the ball. I was good in goal.
At just 22, hooker Craig Wright is already making quite a name for himself at Franklin’s Gardens
‘This year’s been absolutely brilliant for me,’ Wright says. ‘I’ve loved it. I’ve got the most amount of game-time I ever have and I feel like I’m putting in some decent performances’
‘I was 5ft 4in when I was 16. I played for Ipswich academy as a goalkeeper and they kept asking: “How tall is your dad?” I was like, “Yeah, he’s about 6ft 4in”. Then they met him and the bloke’s 5ft 7in! I got released because I was too small. I told them I’m the milkman’s child and the milkman’s bigger – but they didn’t buy it!’
Instead of football or motorcross, rugby has been Wright’s calling.
‘I’m the first rugby player in the family,’ explains the 22-year-old, who was part of the England Under 20s team that won the 2024 Junior World Cup and is now establishing himself as a front-liner at Saints.
‘My nan worked in a local egg factory and then in a Tesco. My grandad retired last year, he was a groundsman doing concrete and slabbing and driving a digger. Mum’s side were a lorry driver – with a bit of scuba diving – and an accountant. Mum’s a nail technician now and does reception work for the NHS.
‘I’ve moved in with my missus in a new-build in Northampton now but I go back to Essex to see them every weekend. It’s a lot of driving!’ adds Smith, who treated himself to a second-hand BMW during his breakthrough season.
On the rugby pitch, he is seen as a set-piece specialist, with an impressive 89 per cent lineout accuracy in the PREM this season. ‘This year’s been absolutely brilliant for me,’ he says. ‘I’ve loved it. I’ve got the most amount of game-time I ever have and I feel like I’m putting in some decent performances. We’re top of the table and it’s a really good team to be a part of.
‘You’ve got the big names like Fin and Henry Pollock and it’s really nice to be able to be on a pitch with them. My strength is my set-piece and they’ve got their flair and chip and chases and what-not. It’s still not perfect but I’ve worked extremely hard throughout the years to try to perfect my throwing technique and scrum consistency.
‘I’ve got things around the park that need a bit of tweaking, getting my hands on the ball as much as possible and trying to tackle as much as possible and getting some good contacts in the game.
‘The coaches gee me up to unleash the angry side so I run over the top of people. I’ve made some breaks this season and thought, “Phwoah, I can’t believe I did that!”.’
‘Half Pint is me darts nickname,’ explains Wright. ‘Snakebite Wright had already been taken!’
‘I’ve made some breaks this season and thought, “Phwoah, I can’t believe I did that!”’
The next step is England, where coach Steve Borthwick, who has been in touch with Wright, is looking for his next generation of hookers, preparing for life after Jamie George. Wright played alongside the likes of Pollock, Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Afo Fasogbon at age-group level. They have now pushed on to earn senior call-ups.
‘I had a chat with Afo when I went to England A’s and I said, “Mate, I want to be in the squad with you”,’ says Wright. ‘We’re always room-mates and I want us to play together again.
‘I enjoyed that block of rugby so much. I want to play alongside Asher and Afo again. I’ve got so much time for those boys and I want them to do really, really well.
‘I want to make my game to an international standard. I keep in touch with (England scrum coach) Tom Harrison quite a bit and I’ve had a couple of conversations with Steve.
‘I’ve started writing visual cues on my wrist during the game. There’s four points: Eyes up in attack; Getting into my shape; Staying fluid in defence and not being too jerky to get off the line; Staying incredibly square at the scrum and putting the props in the best position to push.’
As Wright talks through his rugby ambitions, Northampton’s senior hooker, Curtis Langdon, yells ‘Half Pint’ from the other side of the pitch.
‘That’s me darts nickname,’ explains Wright. ‘”Snakebite Wright” had already been taken, so they call me “Half Pint Wright” instead!
‘We’ve signed up to the Amateur Darts Circuit and there’s always half a pint of Guinness waiting for me. They play at the Yeoman of England in Northampton on Monday, Earls Barton on Wednesday, the Windmill in Rushden on Thursday. I don’t play it every day. I sometimes take a day off! It’s a chance for general Joes like me and Curt to go and play some decent darts.
‘We got sent a load of gears – 48-gram darts, 12-gram darts – from Winmau if you want to go and have a throw…’
‘We’ve signed up to the Amateur Darts Circuit and there’s always half a pint of Guinness waiting for me,’ reveals Wright
Wright pulls out a photo of darts legend Bobby George, before running off to fetch his chain for a few photos by the darts board.
After he’s posed up for pictures, Wright launches into a story that underlines his Cockney roots and would sit nicely in the movie Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.
‘I do a bit of shooting too. And there’s a bloke from the East End who comes along,’ he says. ‘Raymondo, we call him. He bought a load of jellied eels along and put vinegar and pepper on them. He put so much pepper on mine that I had to spit it out and felt ill for the rest of the day. He was like, “Mate, it’s a bloody delicacy!”’
Before we wrap up, Wright quickly addresses this weekend’s derby match against Leicester Tigers. ‘There’s always going to be a scrap in there because the boys are passionate about being the best team in the Midlands.
‘You can’t do a swinging headbutt out of nowhere like Bakkies Botha (the South African who infamously butted the All Black Jimmy Cowan in 2010) but it’s one-in and all-in.
‘The buzz is amazing. Honestly, I’m just loving every minute of it.’