'I guess I'm one of the old heads' - Scott-Young gives his take on Saints' pre-season

"It's been really good," the Australian flanker said.

"I think we've done eight or nine weeks of pre-season and it's been a lot of strength and conditioning, a lot of focus on weights.

"We've had new guys come in so they're getting taught the game plan, getting everyone aligned, that sort of stuff.

"It's been a lot of work to get to this point so it's nice now to get back into games and get that emotional and physical release of playing and testing yourself against opposition.

"It was an awesome game against Bedford last Friday, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and now I'm keen to crack on with Glasgow this week and then we're into it."

Clubs will, of course, always tinker with their pre-season preparations to reflect what worked or didn't work during the previous campaign and what new ingredients they have at their disposal.

"It just kind of depends with the World Cup and with Lions tours because that shifts around when we start pre-season," Scott-Young said.

"We had a massive pre-season two years ago and there was a big focus on strength because we looked at some key areas and defensively we weren't up to scratch so they wanted to make us bigger.

"That was a very tough one because we basically didn't really play any rugby for about 10 weeks, it felt like.

"It felt like we were bodybuilders so it was strange.

"Two years ago was a really big pre-season, last year was relatively quick and this one has been sort of in between where it's been quite a balance, focusing on S&C but also rugby skills.

"Now we've also got the Lions boys back in, which has been staggered with non-internationals, internationals and the Lions coming back in.

"This is the first week we've all been back together, which is awesome."

Scott-Young arrived at Saints from Queensland Reds in 2022 and has gone on to become a mainstay of the squad.

And he has enjoyed the freshness the new signings have brought to the mix this summer.

"I guess I'm one of the old heads - this is my fourth season now," said the 28-year-old.

"We've recruited some really good guys. Cleo (Kundiona) has been awesome, Fishy (Danilo Fischetti) is a good dude and they're from all over the world.

"We've been able to learn about where they're from, learning about their culture and their career path, which is super interesting.

"It's cool meeting these guys. Fishy has been in Italy his whole life and he's got a different approach to the game.

"Anthony (Belleau), who we very creatively call 'Frenchie', he's awesome. We sat around the barbeque a few weeks back just chatting about his perspective on things and what they do differently in France.

"It's really enriching and a cool experience to learn about different cultures."

Scott-Young is certainly someone who enjoys embracing culture, as shown by his travel schedule during the off-season.

"My summer was awesome," he said.

"In my five weeks off, I did a bit of travelling. I went to Portugal, Greece to do the classic sit on the beach, chill out for a bit.

"My brother got married in New York, which was pretty cool, because I was his best man, which was awesome.

"Then I did a hike in Switzerland, the Tour du Mont Blanc, for five days and that was kind of my reconditioning phase because I'd done no exercise for about three weeks to give the legs a bit of a rest.

"The hike helped reintroduce me to exercise.

"I was all travelled out and I was just like 'I need to stay in Northampton and get back to the rugby'."

Scott-Young is now fully focused on bringing the best version of himself to the Saints table this season.

He has racked up 74 appearances in black, green and gold so far.

"My game is centred around physicality and being confrontational,” Scott-Young said.

"There are plenty of different areas (to improve): the lineout, the breakdown, loads of different things that I want to try to improve on.

"However long I get out on the field, I just want to go out there, enjoy myself and put what I practice out onto the pitch."

Saints finished eighth in the Gallagher PREM last season, having won it the season before.

But they did at least find some solace in Europe, reaching the Investec Champions Cup final, in which they were edged out by Union Bordeaux Bègles.

"You look at the results and we'd obviously gone really well in Europe, but in the Premiership we hadn't done as well," Scott-Young said.

"Maybe psychologically Europe was the thing we hadn't achieved. It was still the great unknown and that was really motivating for a lot of the boys, whereas the PREM we'd won previously and we knew how much effort it took to get there. When we won it, it was kind of like 'we've done it' and it wasn't that massive, great feeling of relief, which you'd hope it would be.

"So maybe psychologically that was a factor, but I'd love to see us be successful in both areas this season because there's nothing better than winning in Europe because you feel like you're a big club and you're on the up.

"I love the European games and, knowing us, we'll probably end up playing Leinster again in Dublin.

"Then to get in the top four in the Premiership and be contenders again would be another really good goal for us to set."

One player who Scott-Young feels can help Saints achieve their aims is new fly-half Belleau, who impressed in his first outing last Friday.

The former Clermont Auvergne man showed some lovely touches and steered the ship well at Bedford before a high tackle forced him out of the game early in the second half.

"He brings a bit of joué and he's very skillful, Anthony," Scott-Young said. "He plays with flair and he's a good little lieutenant, marching everyone forward.

"He's settled in really well and I think he'll be an awesome addition to the squad, sharing that 10 jersey with Fin (Smith).

"He speaks with a bit of a funny accent but when he's calling out plays, he lives it, which is awesome.

"He's a tough little bugger. He used his face a few times last Friday, he came off and his nose was kind of zigzagged, but it was put back in and he's very handsome again now."