Grayson takes positives from time at Saints as he gets set to shine in Scotland

The fly-half has joined Edinburgh this summer, having spent a hugely productive time in Japan with Mitsubishi Dynaboars.

Grayson came through the Academy at Saints but he was never able to truly secure the No.10 shirt, with Dan Biggar and then Fin Smith often picked to pull the strings.

However, the Northampton-born ace, who exited Franklin’s Gardens towards the end of 2023, insists there are 'no grudges' with how his time at Saints eventually ended as he headed to Japan to experience a new way of life and, crucially, get regular game time.

“Luckily enough, a lot of people maybe would see it negatively, but I had Dan Biggar in front of me at Northampton, which was brilliant," said Grayson, who was speaking to The Scotsman.

"He was so good to me as a 21 and 22-year-old lad coming through. He took me under his wing. The amount of kicking sessions and stuff that he'd grab me and it was really cool for me to see what it's like to be a top-class professional, but also a decent bloke off the field.

“And yeah, I played a lot of rugby over six or seven seasons at Northampton, but never in a proper run where I felt like it was my team.

"As a fly-half, I feel like you really want to have a hold on where the team's going, how you play it, and you want to be involved in strategy and stuff like that.

“But it was kind of two or three games in, six or seven out, and I never really felt like I could get a proper run of it.

“And then Dan went to Toulon and Fin Smith came in, and I broke my foot. So it was kind of a perfect storm really, in terms of not quite getting that chance to take the next step and really put my stamp on it.

“And then I could see kind of where Northampton were going. Fin, credit to him, has been brilliant. They've obviously won the league twice under his guidance at No.10, and he's gone on to play for England and the Lions.

“So, there's no grudges there, but I was just ready to go somewhere where I felt like I could really dig my teeth in and be like: ‘Okay, I can put 100 percent into playing 10 for this team and the coach backs me'. So, that’s kind of what Japan was for me, which ultimately was 100 per cent what it turned out to be.”

Reflecting on his time in Japan, Grayson said: "It was amazing, playing against the best players in the world.

"If you look at the league, they are sprinkled with the best three players from every nation almost – Pieter-Steph du Toit, Richie Mo’unga, Beauden Barrett – I've played against some brilliant players so it was cool to match up against those guys and see how they operate.

"Coupled with that, from my first year to the last year, the league improved dramatically.

"The Japanese boys are, as you'd imagine, super diligent, hard-working and they're desperate to get better which is really enjoyable to be part of.

"For me as a fly-half, going somewhere where there's so many different cultures because you've got Japanese, you've got Kiwis, South Africans, quite a lot of Polynesian players, I was able to play the chameleon a little bit and get the best out of different people.

"These boys react in different ways so that was a learning curve for me and something that I prided myself on being able to do pretty well.

"Ultimately the reason I went there was to go and play rugby and I played 48 games out of 50 or 52. So I got what I needed to get out of Japan and it was really, really beneficial for my rugby and coupled with a life experience as well for myself and my wife (Jess)."

Grayson feels his time in Japan has helped him to become a better player and he feels he was well prepared for it thanks to the way Saints do things.

He said: "I think the things that I was learning and getting coached at Northampton helped me once I went to Japan in terms of my decision making, my passing game, being able to manipulate defences, which is something that Northampton were pretty big on.

"Coupled with that, going to Japan which is probably a slightly more open league, a little bit more of a running style of rugby, I feel like that benefited my development in terms of giving me an extra string to my bow, being able to challenge the line, be a running threat, which is something that probably when I left England wasn't at the forefront of my game. It definitely has improved certain aspects.

"And Japan is bloody windy, so kicking in the wind has been a good learning curve and being able to figure out certain ways to deal with certain types of wind has been a good thing for me in terms of rounding my kicking game as well."

So was Grayson's plan always to head back closer to home after spending time playing in Japan?

“Yeah, the plan's changed about three or four times in the space of three years," he said.

"I went over there the first year to go and play. I signed a one-year deal and really enjoyed it and ended up playing every game that season.

"Then they offered me a two-year deal, and I thought: ‘Okay, I'm enjoying it here, my wife's going to come out, and the dog came out’. So, we kind of committed to spending some time there, and there was the potential to try and become Japanese qualified over five seasons.

“But then this coming year, they changed the rules around foreigners and eligibility, and what that means for your club team. So that was going to make it fractionally harder for players like me to get on the field more.

“So, once we weighed everything up and then had a internally about what my rugby ambitions are, the decision to move became clearer and clearer for me to come back to this side of the world.

“So, as I say, there were probably three different decisions over the course of a couple of years, but I think I've fallen on the right one."

Grayson has been able to settle in even quicker at Edinburgh thanks to the presence of former Saints prop Paul Hill, who is also in the Scottish side's squad.

Grayson said: "I spoke to Hilly after signing and he was really good in pointing me in the right direction of places to stay and since I've come to the club, the boys and the coaches have been brilliant, managed to make friends quickly enough and the same for my partner, she's already picked up a couple of friends and it's starting to feel like home day by day which is nice.

"Jess's auntie lived in Edinburgh for ages and now lives just over the other side of the bridge and so do my auntie and uncle so we've got family up here."

When asked why Edinburgh appealed to him, Grayson added: "There were a few reasons, really.

"Primarily the rugby reason for me is, I'm 28 years old now, I've been to Japan and experienced some different things and I feel like I've got a good amount of rugby under my belt and I wanted to really challenge myself.

"I should be coming into my prime now as a fly half at 28. I wanted to challenge myself in a really good league for a good team which has a lot of potential but has potentially under-fired the last couple of years and the coaches explained their vision for what they want in the team and I felt like I could help and be a good performer for the club in this league.

"Secondly, Japan's a long way away and we've got married, Jess and I, and being a little bit closer to family, this side of the world, is something that meant a little bit to us and we thought it was the right time to come back."