Ramm on England radar but wing wizard puts full focus on Saints

Ramm trained with the Red Rose towards the end of last season and held conversations with boss Steve Borthwick in the build-up to the Rugby World Cup.

He has yet to be selected for a squad, but there is no doubt that the English-qualified Sydney-born back is on the international radar.

Ramm enjoyed a rapid rise to prominence last season, having joined Saints from NSW Waratahs during the summer of 2022.

He scored 10 tries in 22 appearances and scooped Saints’ players’ player of the season prize and the breakthrough player of the season accolade.

And that led to England taking a look at Ramm.

"It (playing international rugby) is always a goal but that only comes through performances for your club so main focus is always club, then whatever comes from that comes from that,” Ramm said.

"I've had chats with Steve (Borthwick) pre-World Cup and been a bit involved but obviously with it being World Cup time, they've sort of done their own thing.

“Again, my complete focus is here.”

So good was Ramm in his first season at Saints that it is hard to imagine how he can get much better.

But the 25-year-old believes there is much more to come from him in the campaign ahead.

"You've always got to back yourself and say that every year you can get better and better,” Ramm said.

"And I believe that with this coaching staff and with the way everything's set up here, everything's set up so you can get better and better each year. It's been a big focus in pre-season.

"You have individual meetings with coaches every block to say 'what are we working on, are we getting better?', so they are always pushing for players to get better.

"The first block for me was a lot of strength, speed, size and now we're going into another block and high ball is a big area for me and then just being busy, my work rate, getting my hands on the ball as often as I can.”

Ramm revelled in being part of the Saints squad last season and you could see his happiness in the way he played.

"I loved it,” he said.

“I just loved playing, loved being here, loved playing in front of the crowd here.

“Everything was a new experience for me, which was really nice.

“And I just don't have any bad words about it - I absolutely loved it.”

What Ramm would have really loved was a Premiership winners medal, but Saints fell at the play-off semi-final stage, losing to eventual champions Saracens.

And now they are desperate to do better this time round.

"Last season was a top-four goal and we just scraped in,” Ramm said.

“This season the goal is top two. It means a home semi and we know what we can do at home and what our fans do for us. That's definitely the goal.”

Saints recognise that their away form must improve massively if they are to achieve their aims.

And they have the chance to make an immediate statement when they travel to last season’s runners-up, Sale Sharks, for the Premiership opener on Sunday.

"We didn't have a great track record away from home last season and it's been a big focus for us in terms of our game prep and what we do before away games,” Ramm explained.

“We've had a couple of opportunities to practice in the PRC, which has been good and there's a big opportunity in round one at Sale to show that we're here for our away games as well as at home.

"Sale's DNA is very much about pressuring you in defence, they pride themselves on their physicality, that's their game.

"We have contrasting styles but we need to make sure we take the game to them.

“You should have seen the training session on Wednesday - it was right on the edge, very hot - so boys are ready and raring to go.

“I'm very excited.

“It's been a long pre-season and the way Saints have managed that has been really good.

“We spent a lot of time in the gym at the start, putting size and weight on and then filtered us back into running, which, you know, everyone loves...

“Then we got some games in the PRC but now it definitely feels like this is week one and we're ready to go.”

Saints start the season with fixtures against sides who play very different styles, with a home game against Bristol Bears sandwiched between long trips to Sale and Newcastle Falcons.

“That's the beauty of the Premiership, isn't it?” Ramm said

“You play teams that play completely differently and spectators get a different spectacle every week.

“But a big message being pushed is that, yes, teams play differently, but we play our game.

“(Saints head coach) Sam Vesty has been very big on that and saying that we don't want to change every week depending on our opponent. We want to play our way and pick up one of two things that the opposition might do.”