Saints summer signing Hunter-Hill happy to swap one winning culture for another

The lofty lock left Saracens, where he was a Gallagher Premiership winner, to join Saints, the reigning English champions.

And the 27-year-old says there isn't too much difference between the environment he has left and the one he's joined as he bids to add more trophies to his personal cabinet.

When asked how much life at Saints differs to what he experienced at Saracens, he said: “Not too much.

“One of the main things I noticed on my first day is that pretty much all of the coaches came up to me and said they would like to have a coffee with me and pick my brain on how Sarries operate, how their training systems operate and how things go.

“It really struck me that they're quite prepared to change their ways and are constantly adapting what they're doing.

“In terms of how the day to day operates, I feel like most clubs will be similar but they are a very tight-knit group, everyone is very friendly with each other and we went for a beer after the first day of training.

“They are a very close-knit bunch of guys and it's been good.”

The 6ft 7in tall, 120kg second row made 81 appearances across five seasons at StoneX Stadium, including from the bench as Saracens defeated Sale Sharks in the 2022/23 Premiership final.

But after injuries hit him, Hunter-Hill found himself in need of a new challenge.

“It's an interesting one,” he said. “I was at Sarries for a long time, played a lot of rugby there, had a lot of success there but I maybe got to the point where I personally needed a bit of a change-up.

“Obviously Saints are on the up and they've got a great setup, great coaches, everyone's enthusiastic, a lot of young players who are really performing to the highest of their ability and it just seemed like a good place to be a part of.”

So what will Hunter-Hill add to the Saints mix?

“I'm quite a mobile player, good at getting myself around the park, and at Saints they seem to really prioritise that,” he said.

“They want guys who are able to get around and move themselves, and on top of that, the way their defensive system works there's a lot of time in tackle and a lot of specific physicality of being able to slow teams down and get guys on their feet around the park.

“It all just suits me as a player.”

Hunter-Hill, who was born in Melrose and came through the Glasgow Warriors academy, believes being at Saints can help him realise his international ambitions with Scotland.

He said: “I played Scotland Under-20s and one of the main reasons I was looking for a change was to push myself into international contention.

“I've had a pretty bad run with injuries and I was out for pretty much the whole of last year and the year before that I was out for a few months as well. My body probably needed a bit of a change-up.

“One of my biggest goals is to play for Scotland.”