Hampshire are developing stronger links with Saints.

Director of cricket Giles White and academy manager Bobby Parks both had a tour of the new-look training ground at Marchwood with Under-21 coach Martin Hunter recently.

And they are keen to gain a more in-depth insight to Saints’ success before the start of Hampshire’s season.

“The scale is very different but there are a lot of similarities with how they run things, the philosophies are similar in terms of winning while being sustainable,” said White, who is also building bridges with Harlequins RFC through his friendship with their coaching staff.

“It’s good to see how different sports can help each other.

“When we were at Northlands Road we used to see Saints at The Dell and have always had good links with ex-players like Franny Benali and Matt Le Tissier.

“So we thought we would try and keep that going with their new academy centre opening and get a greater understanding of how things work at a deeper level. We cross over a fair amount in the sports science department so we spoke to the analysts about the succession plan and recruitment.

“Hopefully we’ll spend some more time there with a bigger group of our coaches before the season starts “It’s a reciprocal arrangement so during their off-season they’ll see how we do things.”

Parks is just as pleased with the arrangement.

“Saints have got such a formidable reputation that it’s a visit I’ve been wanting to make for some time,” he said.

“The overriding impression I had of the club was its professionalism. They have the right people in the right jobs and the high levels of discipline and respect between the coaches and the players was very noticeable.

“We don’t have the financial resources they have but we cut our cloth accordingly and also pride ourselves on having a good youth structure that produces good all-round players prepared for the pro game.

“But there are still areas we could improve on so the plan is to go back soon.”