Northampton's James Ramm is short on memory but big on impact

Monday morning review meetings can normally be toe-curling experiences for players dwelling on mistakes made at the weekend but for James Ramm they are revelatory.

The go-with-the-flow Aussie from the Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill is not one for stats or knowing the minutiae of matches but if he were interested in such detail, five tries in 17 appearances this season would make for pleasant reading.

Ramm’s approach is not because he doesn’t care but more to do with a mindset that requires the freedom to go out and play what is in front of him rather than be bogged down with what has come before.

“My rugby memory is horrible,” he freely admitted when some numbers were thrown his way at the start of our interview.

“I get off the pitch and think, ‘What just happened?’ I am not thinking at all whilst I’m out there, which is how I like to play. It all just happens. I want it to be in as much of a flow state as possible.

“I don’t know what other boys do. Some boys have an amazing memory of three years ago, in this time and this game, and I am thinking, ‘How do you remember that?’

“Pre-game stuff, like when the fireworks are going off, or when I run out here with the crowd and everything, I definitely soak all that in. But as soon as that is gone nothing really goes on.

“I make sure I have got my rugby knowledge nailed down pretty early in the week so that when I am out there on a weekend and we call a play I am not thinking, ‘What’s that?’ And I can relax into it.

“It gets easier as the season goes on. In the first couple of games, there are obviously some teething issues and some memory going wrong but we’re well into the season now.”

Ramm, who is enjoying a good season both in terms of game time and performances, admits the tightening up of the access kick-chase law is tailor-made for back-three players like him who pride themselves in their aerial ability.

“It’s a really good change, I think, for the game and also for my game. I love those aerial contests, and I love the fact that we are now allowed free passage into that contest. It creates a lot more rugby.

“There is often a contest and tap back and it is then leading to broken field rugby, which is exciting, which is how we want to play, so it suits the Saints down to a tee. I was really happy when that came in.

“Defensively it makes it a lot harder. But my mentality with the whole high ball, aerial contest, you have got to be 100% in there and you’ll be fine. If you are sort of holding back a bit you are going to come off second best.”

With a background in gymnastics, it is no surprise that Ramm loves to test himself in this increasingly crucial aspect of the game. However, the 26-year-old wasn’t afraid to admit he doesn’t hold the best standing jump record in the club.

“We have the testing boards that we jump off and I think they measure the force produced and time in the air. I am not the best at them. Jake Garside, a wing/nine, is an absolute freak at them. He is a little guy but he can probably jump over my head. It is impressive to watch.”

A former junior Wallaby, it took a leap of faith from Ramm to leave the Waratahs and Super Rugby and try his luck in England.

The 6’3 flyer is into his third season at Franklin’s Gardens and reached a half-century of appearances in the black, green and gold in the Premiership Rugby Cup clash against Leicester at the start of the month.

Ramm had found the truncated Super Rugby season always left him wanting more and the desire to play week in, week out over an extended period was one of the driving forces behind his overseas move.

The former Randwick player has used the break between the final round of pool play and Saints’ quarter-final at home to Ealing Trailfinders on Saturday, 1 March, to go to New York with his girlfriend.

But once that holiday is over, Ramm is eager to get stuck into the busy end-of-season run-in.

“The sheer number of games you can play here was one of the biggest factors why I chose to come over.

“I had a fairly injury-interrupted year the year before I came and the prospect of playing 30-plus games a season is all I wanted.

“I am loving it so there are absolutely no complaints from me from a game-time perspective. I’ve tasted the other side of it back in Australia, when you play 12 normal round games and that’s it if you don’t make finals. I love it.”

The Premiership Rugby Cup arguably represents Northampton’s best chance of silverware this season.

Saints were the first team to lift the Premiership Rugby Cup in 2019 and if they get past Ealing, they’ll be away to a couple of other former winners in Exeter or Sale in the semi-finals.

Ramm is a big advocate of the often-maligned competition, which was won last year by Gloucester, who have also made it through to the last eight.

“I absolutely love the PRC. When I first got here, I played five or six PRC games before I played a Prem game.

“It is such a good competition to let those boys who have been grafting their arses off to get a chance, nad maybe some boys who are coming back from injury.

“But it is also very competitive, they are not easy games.”