LONG READ 'I've got strength back but I'm down on muscle': George Martin on his injury comeback and swapping Leicester for Saracens

You might not instinctively expect George Martin to be the romantic kind – hulking 20st second-row enforcer and all that – but don’t judge a book by the cover.

After clearing the way with his father-in-law-to-be the previous weekend before, he got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend Natalie – a veterinary nurse – over the summer.

One of their favourite restaurants in Ibiza provided the paradise backdrop.

“It was lovely,” he said. “And she said ‘yes’ which was the most important bit. We haven’t set a date yet – we’ve just moved and we want to try and get settled first but it will definitely be sometime over the next couple of years.”

Happy days. Their move – to Harpenden – followed Martin’s summer switch from Leicester to Saracens which was, in England terms, the biggest transfer of 2026.

 

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It was a significant coup for Sarries to prise the 25-year-old away from the Tigers and pair him up with Maro Itoje in a formidable engine room which England are likely to turn to this autumn with their captain available again after his summer rest.

“It’s been great so far. I’ve really enjoyed it,” said Martin. “I obviously knew some of the boys from England, and I knew quite a few lads like Hugh Tizard and Alfie Barbeary from playing age grade so I didn’t feel like I was moving to somewhere completely different in that sense.

“But the club have been super-welcoming, the boys have been great and Natalie has got a job sorted as well, which is also really good.

“The first week was straight into the pre-season camp in Cornwall so that was good, because they had a lot of team-building bits and we went for a couple of beers which is always an easy way to break in and feel welcome.

To be honest, the set-up is very, very similar to Leicester in terms of the training ground. We share with the local rugby club, and I love that.

“Now we’re into it and have played a few games and I’m really getting to know the boys and the coaches now. I’m looking forward to seeing where I can take it and where I can go with the team.”

Having come through the Tigers academy, Leicester was all Loughborough-born Martin had ever known. He still keeps in touch with his Leicester contemporaries – he and Ollie Chessum shared a considerable roast in London earlier this month – but he is a Saracen now.

“It’s definitely different here, but it’s been class,” he said. “To be honest, the set-up is very, very similar to Leicester in terms of the training ground. We share with the local rugby club, and I love that. We come in to train hard, and that’s it. It’s not flashy.

“What is different is that we are doing more game scenarios – we have a big emphasis on that in our training with a lot of mini-games  but we’re still working super hard on the fundamentals of maul, scrum and defence.”

Overseeing matters is, of course, Brendan Venter in his guise as the club’s head of culture and technical director.

“I’ve really enjoyed playing for him so far,” said Martin. “I didn’t know much about him coming in, but he’s been brilliant. I’ve enjoyed getting to know him. I enjoy his character. I like how positive he is. He’s got a great outlook on life in general and how to be a better person, basically but at the same time, he’s someone you wouldn’t want to let down. You wouldn’t want to not put the team first, for example.”

Venter’s long-range selection policy has created plenty of debate and been an eye-opener to Martin.

“It’s definitely interesting and different to the way that I’m used to all doing it before,” he said. “It’s good to have that there so that we know to be ready to have a push for a big game or have a bit of a recharge week here to get ready to go again.

“But while he gave everyone a block of games at the start of the season, obviously that was in an ideal world. Every game you have an injury or a niggle. The list he gave at the start, I don’t think that’s anywhere near what has been seen on the weekends.”

Martin’s involvement, for instance, has been restricted to 135 minutes over three games because of a couple of minor knocks and some careful management by Saracens.

I’ve got my strength back, but I’m still in a phase where I’m down on muscle. So I wear a big pad over my shoulder, just on the side and around the front, to give me a bit of extra padding.

He was out for 15 months with shoulder nerve damage and it is in no-one’s interests to take any risks in that area.

“You’ve got to sometimes be a bit more careful during the week because, if you have a game at the weekend and you have some big tackles on it or big clear-outs or someone hits you on it, it just takes a little bit longer to recover,” he said.

“I’ve got my strength back, but I’m still in a phase where I’m down on muscle. So I wear a big pad over my shoulder, just on the side and around the front, to give me a bit of extra padding where that layer of muscle is growing back.

“Basically, I have just got to be really smart with my recovery and make sure the physios and everyone’s on the same page – as they were at Leicester – so I’m ready to go for the next weekend.”

The extended period on the sidelines affected the way Martin thought about the game. In a good way. It was no longer the thing he did at weekends because that’s what he had always done, it was the thing he could not wait to do at weekends.

“The injury was tough, but also it was great for me because it made me really appreciate and want to get back, want to get playing well and push myself. I was actually grateful for it in the end,” he said.

“Every game I played at the end of last season for Leicester – I think it was the last seven games – and then the three England games in the summer, I loved them. It was amazing.

“I would never take rugby for granted, but now I go into games and I’m like: ‘Wow, this is special’. I’ve worked hard to get back so now I’ve got to go and show what I can do.”

He has one more game in Saracens colours – against Newcastle this weekend – before, touch wood, running out to play at the Allianz Stadium, Twickenham with England for the first time in 19 months.

If we get to the final that will put us in a really good spot going into the Six Nations and into the World Cup.

“That would be amazing,” he said. “The last time I played at Twickenham was when I did my shoulder so I’m sure I’ll be full of emotion, but it’ll be good emotion. I’ll be fired up, ready to go if the time comes. It’ll be special going out there with my mates again.”

This will be the first Nations Championship autumn with England hosting Australia, Japan and New Zealand with the finals weekend to come at the end, also at Allianz Stadium. The new tournament still has some kinks to iron out – the travel demands, particularly on England in the summer, were savage – but this is where it should come into its own with the prospect of something tangible for the teams to target at the end of November.

“I’m looking forward to it. I think it adds to it 100 per cent. That final game gives us something to aim towards,” said Martin.

“If we get to the final that will put us in a really good spot going into the Six Nations and into the World Cup.”