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Northampton sign the English-qualified James Ramm from Super Rugby

By Kim Ekin
(Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Northampton have announced the signing of Australian wing James Ramm from the NSW Waratahs ahead of the 2022/23 season. The English-qualified 23-year-old outside back has started 18 of his 20 Super Rugby appearances since announcing himself in style with a try on his Waratahs debut in 2020.

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He is now a mainstay in their backline and one of the competition’s top performers in clean breaks, defenders beaten and metres carried. Ramm came through the colts system at Randwick, playing in the Shute Shield competition for the Sydney side, before also representing the Rays in Australia’s National Rugby Championship ahead of joining the Waratahs academy.

He was selected for the Junior Wallabies in 2018, pulling on the Australia jersey at that year’s World Rugby U20s Championship, and the 6ft 3in flyer is now relishing the prospect of turning out at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in the Gallagher Premiership.

“I’m thrilled to be signing for Northampton Saints and to experience playing some footy in a completely different environment over in England,” said Ramm. “The Premiership is one of the most competitive leagues in the world and I’m looking forward to getting over there to show the club’s supporters what I can do.

“The coaches have a really exciting vision for Saints and the brand of rugby the team plays, so I wanted to get involved as soon as I started talking to them. There have been a few guys now who have done great things having moved over to Northampton from Sydney in recent years. I hope I can follow in their footsteps and make a big impact at the club.”

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Ramm has been named in Dave Rennie’s senior Australia training squads but is yet to make his debut for the Wallabies at Test level, and has balanced his playing career so far with studying for a degree in biomedical engineering at the University of New South Wales. He started his journey in rugby later than most having been a prodigious gymnast in his youth, specialising in the floor and vault disciplines and competing at the Australian Institute of Sport.

The fleet-footed wing traded the balance beam for a pair of rugby boots aged 13, opting to head to Sydney’s St Joseph’s College, which boasts a host of Wallabies amongst its alumni including Kurtley Beale, Peter Betham and Matt Burke, rather than pursuing a path towards the Olympic Games.

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As Ramm becomes the third Northampton signing of the season from down under (with the club announcing the arrivals of Lukhan Salakaia-Loto and Angus Scott-Young in recent weeks), incoming director of rugby Phil Dowson believes the 23-year-old’s athleticism makes him a perfect fit for the demands of European rugby.

He said: “James is tall, strong, aggressive and talented under the high ball. He is obviously an impressive athlete given his top-level gymnastics background, but he has grown into an excellent rugby player over the last few years. He is English-qualified but was on the fringes of the Australia squad last year, and we spoke to Rob Horne at length about him too. He is a big fan of James so he comes to us highly recommended.

“There is a huge amount of potential for James to develop further given his age as well, and based on his size and ability to dominate in the air, we are confident he will complement the group of back-three players we already have at the club really nicely.”

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Jon 7 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 11 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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