Statement: Northampton Saints confirms the departure of boss

The 45-year-old will succeed Martin Slumbers, who announced in January his departure after overseeing this year's Open Championship at Royal Troon and AIG Women's Open at St Andrews.

Darbon's decision comes on the heels of Northampton's 25-21 victory over Bath in last month's Premiership final, marking their first title win in a decade.

"Leading The R&A as their chief executive is a fantastic opportunity for Mark, and we wish him and his family the very best up in Scotland," said Saints chairman John White.

"Given Mark’s calibre and his capability as a leader, it was inevitable that one day he would be approached to take on a leading role within one of the most reputable sporting organisations in the world – so this move, while disappointing for the club, is not surprising and we have planned for this moment.

"I’ve enjoyed every minute working with him, he deserves this opportunity, and I have no doubt that he will have a huge impact at The R&A and bring that organisation the same success as he has here at Saints."

These two have history. Henson was ruled out for a number of weeks in 2016 after Marler clattered the Welsh Prince off the ball.

The England prop was returning to rugby after a troubled 2015-16 season, that prompted the loosehead to take a break from the game in the summer missing England's historic 3-0 whitewash of the Wallabies Down Under.

A story from Marler's book shows the ego of Henson in 2005 was off the scale. Being told to hurry up with his hair by his captain Gareth Thomas, the playmaker showed his skipper little respect.H

enson's reply to Thomas was: "Alf, your mother and father have come to watch you play today, but there are 72,000 out there who have come to watch me."

Woodward tore apart Eddie Jones' side during a webinar, slamming Marler and fellow prop Dan Cole for their behaviour in a press conference prior to the loss against South Africa back in November. This wasn't the first time the 2003 World Cup-winning coach called out the prop.

After reading an article on the Rugby Pass website highlighting Woodward's comments, he tweeted him directly, saying: "Change the record Sir Clive - you should be grateful you can 'milk the cow' for another 3 years."

Over 1,000 days since Folau last played a professional match of rugby union, Marler's old Twitter sparring partner made his return to the sport over the weekend.

The loose-head prop takes any chance he can to call out the former Wallabies fullback, who could soon represent Tonga, for his homophobic views.

In a series of tweets sent directly to Folau, Marler attached pictures and GIFs of men kissing, in a display of defiant humour which was praised by fellow players and LGBTQ fans alike.

Marler later named Folau in his dream team in a tongue-in-cheek fashion.

On selecting Folau as his fullback, Marler commented, "On the night out, after we had played our match on the Saturday, I'd take him out in Brighton to The Blue Oyster... a couple of clubs."

The winger dramatically left Harlequins in 2017 to join Premiership rivals Sale Sharks in an unusual mid-season move.

Marler said: “I hadn’t spoken to the bloke in 18 months,

“I’d lost the plot with him a good while ago. And let him be, let him do his own thing, because I’d given up on it

“He’d made the decision that he wanted to leave…you know, all the best to him. I wish him all the best. I don’t wish nastiness upon anyone.

“He’s one of those to just leave, as he won’t change in my mind. Me and him just don’t get on.”