Full pre-season gives Pearson perfect platform for third campaign at Saints
Tom Pearson is ready to add even more strings to his bow as he bids to make season three at Saints his best yet.
The talented back row forward arrived in Northampton following the sad demise of London Irish in 2023.
He has since racked up 44 appearances for Saints, scoring 13 tries in the process.
And though it is clear he already has the quality to star domestically and internationally, Pearson is setting his sights on personal improvement with some specific targets.
"There's definitely bits I can add to my game," the 25-year-old said.
"Playing six and set piece is definitely a focus for me this season. It's something the international coaches are looking for as well so if I can get some good game time there, play a bit more at six, be involved in the set piece a bit more then being able to play a couple of positions in the back row is really important so it's something I've been working on."
Pearson is now fully settled at Saints and set to benefit from a lengthy build-up to the new campaign.
"It's my first full pre-season and it's been great," he said.
"I've been in pretty much since the start and got loads out of it.
"It's been strange having guys come back at different times but all the new guys have fitted in so well and there's some talented guys there.
"Especially guys in the forwards I've had a lot of training time with - they will really add to the squad.
"There's a real ethos of trying to get better each day and building week to week.
"I definitely think we've done that and it probably showed in the performance last Friday (when Saints won 49-34 at Saracens in the PREM Rugby Cup opener) to end pre-season and kick off the rest of the season."
He added: "I'm very settled and I can't believe I'm coming into my third season here now.
"It's gone really quickly, which shows how much I'm enjoying it.
"It's great fun and there's a really good core group of lads who have stayed and committed so we're heading in the right direction."
Pearson is a player of real pedigree, having won London Irish's young player of the year award and been named Premiership Rugby’s breakthrough player of the season and the RPA’s young player of the year for 2022/23.
He has been hit by the occasional injury at Saints, including one which ruled him out of last season's Investec Champions Cup final in Cardiff, though he was able to return on the final day of the league season at Gloucester.
He was left out of the England squad for the summer tour, having initially been part of the training group, giving Pearson more time to reflect on last season and look ahead to the 2025/26 campaign with Saints.
"We were off it in the league last season," said Pearson.
"Our home form was good on the whole, but it's so important to just get something out of those away games. A win is great but even just a try bonus or a losing bonus point is crucial.
"It's only a 10-team league now so every game is massive and if you can get something from every away game, it's key.
"Our home form has been really good, we're really happy with that and we want to continue that this season.
"We had some really bad luck in key parts of the season with some key players.
"We'll miss the Lions guys for the first couple of rounds, which is disappointing, but we're looking good anyway and they'll only add to it when they rejoin the squad.
"We've got some really good new signings.
"It's always sad to see guys go at the end of last season but the recruitment has been great.
"We've got JJ (van der Mescht), who is probably one of the biggest guys in the league.
"We've got Danny (Danilo Fischetti), who I played with previously at Irish, and he's a quality operator, a seasoned international, 50 caps for Italy and was captain at Zebre last year.
"We've got Chicky (Callum Chick) who is so durable, been brilliant in the Prem for years and who has international recognition as well.
"To really bolster that pack has been great and we've really seen glimpses of those guys already.
"The best is yet to come from them."
First up for Saints in this season's Gallagher PREM is a home clash with Exeter Chiefs on Sunday (kick-off 1pm).
And Pearson said: "It's nice to have our first PREM game at home, which is something that hasn't happened for a while.
"I'm buzzing, can't wait to get out there.
"We've got a strong enough squad that we're just going to go for it and pick up where we left off last Friday.
"We're going to make this home form really important to us and kick it off on Sunday."