Waller so happy to be back home with Saints

After spending five years at Worcester Warriors, Ethan Waller is now back in Northampton, the club at which he started his career.

"I've settled in really well," said Waller, discussing his satisfying Saints return.

"Most of the staff are the same as when I left and I've had experience with the coaches as well so it's been a pretty easy transition for me.

"I obviously know a few of the boys from my last stint here, too, but they were in the Academy at the time and they are now senior boys with a lot of rugby under their belt.

"It's nice to be back and it's been a really pleasant few weeks when you take away the fitness element of it.

"It's probably been the easiest transition for me.

"I left for a good reason and I come back a better bloke.

"It's been pretty smooth coming back into things.

"It's five years and that's a long old time.

"I was speaking to Paul Hill the other day and he said it felt like I hadn't been gone that long.

"It's been quite a while away but it was well worth doing and it was the right time for me to go and play rugby regularly.

"I'm back and ready to compete, ready to prove the decision I made was the right one."

While some things have stayed the same at Saints, plenty has changed.

The style of play is different to when Waller was last at the club back in 2017 and so are the men in charge of the team.

Waller played alongside Phil Dowson while wearing the black, green and gold - but now he's being managed by him as Dowson has stepped up to become director of rugby this summer.

"It's been brilliant," said Waller, who celebrated his 30th birthday last Saturday.

"He's very much as he was when he was a player: he's a very good speaker and a very good motivator of men.

"The messages that he delivers are clear and concise and those are the memories I have of him as a player: before games, being able to deliver that kind of thing.

"His coaching style is very similar to his playing style and that's why he's been successful so far."

While Dowson has gone from player to boss, Lewis Ludlam has gone from Academy prospect to Saints skipper.

And Waller has enjoyed seeing how players he knew from his last spell at Saints have progressed in their own ways.

"It's been brilliant to see and a lot of this group that is here now was part of that A League win we had in my last year at Saints," Waller said.

"A lot of the boys who are starting week in, week out now were part of that crew and seeing those boys step up is fantastic.

"There's a special bond when you go through that kind of stuff and it was always really great to watch from afar.

"Watching Luds go to the World Cup, watching people like Hutch and Furbs get their first caps, watching the likes of Moony and Ribeye being involved in the England setup has been great.

"They've got the potential and they've really started to fulfil it.

"It's massively exciting to come back into, knowing these boys are the core of the team.

"It's brilliant for the club and for them, and it's great to be able to get stuck into it now."

While those Academy graduates flourished after Chris Boyd took control at Saints back in 2018, Waller left a year earlier in pursuit of his own personal progression.

He found starts hard to come by at the club, with his brother, Alex, hogging the Saints No.1 shirt.

That prompted Waller to move to Worcester Warriors as he sought more minutes.

And though he feels the Warriors didn't achieve what they were capable of during his stay at Sixways, he certainly has no regrets about making the move when he did.

"It was frustrating because there was a lot more potential in that changing room," Waller said.

"We didn't achieve what we could have there.

"It's a very different set of challenges than what I had faced before because with Saints it was fighting for top four and titles, whereas at Worcester it was a very different set of challenges.

"It was great for me as a person and player because you've got to face that adversity to grow as a player and a human.

"I don't regret leaving Saints when I did - it was definitely the right choice at the time - but now it's the right choice to come back and hopefully contribute positively."

Waller added: "I left Northampton as a promising young player who hadn't really had a chance to prove himself.

"I left having played 95 times for Northampton, starting 12 times, so I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder about that and prove I could start regularly in the Premiership and Europe.

"I finished on 118 caps at Worcester in five years so I learned to adapt and grow.

"There were quite a few comings and goings so the people who stayed ended up being a core.

"It developed me in a lot of ways off field and on field, and there were some good coaches who taught me a lot.

"I'm back with more experience and a level head."

While Waller was at Worcester, Saints underwent a style change, and they are now a swashbuckling side who scored more Premiership tries than any other team last season.

"I'm still learning everything on how the new Saints play so we'll have to see what the season holds," Waller said.

"One of the main reasons I wanted to come back was because the style of rugby is right up my street, having the ball in hand a lot of the time is how I enjoy playing.

"I worked with (Saints head coach) Sam Vesty in my first year at Worcester and I was really impressed with him and the way he did things.

"You can see it's been implemented in the way Saints play now.

"It was probably a necessary change in the way they played and it's something that's got a huge amount of potential.

"This group can go on to do some special things."