Saints great Frank Packman helping son Howard through pre-season punishment

Strength and conditioning is currently the order of the day at Saints as the players are put through their paces in a bid to get them into the best state possible for the new campaign.

Young players are given particularly tough regimes as they are required to build towards coping with the rigours of top-flight rugby.

And Packman has revealed his father Frank, who played 376 times for Saints between 1982 and 1996, starring as a centre and wing, is keeping him motivated.

“He talks to me, tries to get me through these hard weeks and is just saying it’s all money in the bank for the season,” said the 19-year-old.

“He says it will help me through the season, says some good stuff and tries to make me keep wanting to play.”

Packman has some rugby to look forward to on Friday, though, as he is in Saints’ squad for the Premiership Sevens Series at Franklin’s Gardens.

The versatile back has already played for England in the format this year, playing a starring role in the London leg of the HSBC Sevens World Series.

“I had a little bit of game time at Glasgow in May and then they asked me to come back for the London tournament,” Packman explained.

“There were 70,000 people through the day at Twickenham and I played against Fiji, made some nice breaks and scored a try. That was my highlight of the two weekends.

“A couple of lads in the Saints squad this week have had a couple of tournaments, but I’ve probably had the most high level tournaments so far.”