CHRIS ASHTON could be set to leave Northampton in the summer after director of rugby Jim Mallinder revealed the England winger is reluctant to discuss a new contract with the Premiership club in England.
The 24-year-old is out of contract at the end of the season and has been linked with a move to Premiership champions Saracens.
Ashton, serving a four-week ban for pulling the hair of Leicester wing Alesana Tuilagi, has scored 90 tries for Saints since switching codes from Wigan Warriors in 2007, as well as racking up 15 tries in his 18 Test appearances.
Northampton are keen to hold on to the three-quarter but Mallinder said: “There’s not an offer on the table, because his agent doesn’t want to talk to us. We’ve not had discussions and I think his mind is elsewhere. If he wanted to stay, we’d talk to him.
“If any player wants to go, for whatever reason, whether that’s moving to London, or a massive financial offer, we’re not going to stand in their way. We’ll shake their hand and we’ll get players who want to play for Northampton.”
Northampton chairman Leon Barwell has previously stated that the club will not break the bank in order to keep hold of Ashton.
But there was also positive news for Saints after Ashton’s Northampton and England team-mate Dylan Hartley penned a new deal that will keep him at Franklin’s Gardens until at least 2015.
Hooker Hartley has made 144 appearances since joining from Worcester in 2005, scoring 15 tries, and the increasing maturity he has shown since being made captain in 2009 has helped make him an England regular.
Hartley has guided the club to consecutive Premiership semi-final appearances, as well as last season’s Heineken Cup final.
“I’ve got a lot of ambition for myself and for the team and want to keep cracking on and I know I need to keep improving as a player as we’ve got several good hookers at the club who all want to be playing first-team rugby and are knocking on the door,” said Hartley.
“The Heineken Cup run last year is an obvious highlight of my time here so far, and Division One was good fun, too. But my whole time here has been a great experience and a learning curve. I’ve grown up here and it’s a home away from home.”
Argentina will host all three of their matches in their debut season in the Rugby Championship in 2012 outside the capital, the Argentine Rugby Union (UAR) said. The Pumas will play South Africa in Mendoza on August 25th, New Zealand in La Plata on September 29th and Australia in Rosario on October 6th.
“The choice was made with the objective of following a federal line, taking the Pumas to play in the interior of the country so everyone can enjoy our national team,” UAR president Luis Castillo said.
When the new four-nation Southern Hemisphere championship was presented at a news conference in Buenos Aires a month ago, Sanzar, the body representing the other three nations, said it favoured playing at least two of the matches in Buenos Aires.
Mendoza is 1,000km west of Buenos Aires, Rosario 350km to the north and La Plata, the capital of Buenos Aires province with the only stadium in South America with a roof, 60km away.
Former Britain rugby league international Martin Gleeson has been banned for three years for anti-doping rule violations.
A statement by UK Anti-Doping said former Hull chief executive James Rule and former assistant coach Ben Cooper had also been banned after Gleeson tested positive for a banned stimulant last May. Gleeson, 31, left Hull in September.
UK Anti-Doping said Gleeson had admitted lying about the circumstances leading to the positive test while Rule and Cooper were “complicit in the lies”.
“Mr Gleeson agreed to a three-year ban being imposed by the National Anti-Doping Panel, with half that ban suspended in recognition of his providing assistance to UK Anti-Doping,” UK Anti-Doping said.
“Mr Cooper agreed to a two-year ban, with half also suspended. Mr Rule did not contest the charge made against him by UK Anti-Doping, and has been banned for two years by the National Anti-Doping Panel.”
