The 29-year-old Wales centre made his Sarries debut 12 years ago having come through the club’s academy system and for the last six seasons has been the first choice in the midfield.
“Nick came here when he was 14,” said McCall, Sarries’ director of rugby. “He was playing in the back row then and in his 16 years with us he has developed gradually on and off the pitch. He had to fight for his place to begin with behind Brad Barritt and Marcelo Bosch. He was prepared to be patient and learn from the people who were above him. Now he is passing that education down.
“I think he must be the least mature 29-year old there has ever been, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. He has that joy of life you want when you come into the building every day.
“He cannot wait to train and be with his friends. We love his energy and he typifies what we want our players to be like.”
Bu hikaye The Rugby Paper dergisinin December 22, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye The Rugby Paper dergisinin December 22, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
I always wanted to play an exciting form of rugby
THERE were periods of my career where I felt like I was playing well enough to earn a shot with England. However, if you look at the way England’s gone, even with Marcus Smith now, he gets taken off when he is playing fantastic rugby just because he’s more of a flair player and as a result has a stigma attached.
England must find a way to deliver
WITH Christmas fast approaching, it’s time for us all to look forward to better things and hope we achieve them.
I've still got plenty to give, says Beaumont
JOSH Beaumont prepares to put his body on the festive front line again in the Sale cause revealing his biggest “regret” has been not winning an England cap.
Saracens fight back to overcome Bears
SARACENS secured a pulsating victory over a Hannah Botterman-inspired Bristol Bears to move to within a point of the summit of the table.
Hopkins in snatch it
AFTER the resignation of their popular head coach Toby Booth earlier in the week, Ospreys were given a huge boost when replacement Iestyn Hopkins crashed over with the clock in overtime to condemn their fiercest rivals to yet another defeat in Swansea.
No Mostert? That's got to be a mistake
HERE'S a funny thing: one of the more prominent rugby sites on the world wide web super information highway thingy has just published its list of the 100 best players in the sport. And no, the Spring-bok lock Franco Mostert isn't in it. ALLOWED
Tompkins hits the 200-mark for Saracens
MARK McCall has hailed Nick Tompkins, who makes his 200th appearance today for Saracens against champions Northampton at StoneX Stadium, as the epitome of a player the club aims to produce.
Anguish for Chiefs as Sale march on
GEORGE Ford’s educated right boot proved hugely instrumental as Sale subjected rock-bottom Exeter to yet more misery and gloom.
Rampaging Bears tear Tigers apart
BRISTOL produced a memorable display of attacking rugby which left Leicester thoroughly shaken and stirred.
England's outsiders deserve a chance niveste cu
IT’S just six weeks before the start of the 2025 Six Nations, and since Steve Borthwick became England head coach his main message to the media has been we want to get better. However, by the end of the autumn series, Borthwick had become a bit more critical, saying that England were not fit enough, and were not carrying what they had been doing in training into matches.
