'Absolute honour' for Ramm as he gets set to skipper Saints against Leinster

The Australian ace has been handed the chance to captain the black, green and gold in their pre-season opener.

And when asked how it came about, Ramm said: "I don't really know. I just got told on Tuesday.

"It's been a good chance in the past four or five weeks for people to step up.

"We've had a lot of (international) boys away during the start of our pre-season block and at the start of the block Dows (Saints boss Phil Dowson) said that it's a really good opportunity to find some new voices because we lost a lot of leaders from last year.

"It's good practice.

"Dows had a chat to me on Tuesday and asked whether I'd like to lead the boys out.

"It's an absolute honour.

"It's very, very special to say I'll have captained the Saints.

"It's something I wouldn't have imagined happening so soon when I came over here but I'll absolutely take it and I'm very excited."

Ramm has become a key figure at Saints since arriving from NSW Waratahs in the summer of 2022.

He has made 34 appearances during his two seasons at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens, scoring 18 tries.

But the versatile back has never captained a side before.

When asked what his approach to it will be, he said: "I'm very relaxed.

"I try not to change too much about myself if I'm leading.

"There's a lot of boys in there who will take over the technical, tactical and boys who will bring energy.

"My overall role is to sum everything up when it comes to it.

"I've said a couple of times already that I want to make sure we enjoy our first hit-out."

Champions Saints will play two pre-season matches, at home to Leinster and Bedford Blues, before their Gallagher Premiership season opener at Bath on September 20.

And Ramm said: "It gets to this point in pre-season and we've had enough of hitting each other, we want to go and hit someone else.

"Everyone's really excited to get back into games.

"The weather's turning a bit more wintery so it feels more like rugby season now.

"We've had a really good block, five weeks, one week off and then last week training.

"The boys are champing at the bit to get out there.

"Leinster are a world class side and any opportunity we get to put our game against a side like that, we're only going to get better from.

"That's what pre-season is about: blowing the cobwebs out, getting back into our game and what we want to bring this season.

"It's a good chance to set the posts and say 'this is where we are, this is what we want to do' so it's very exciting."

Ramm, who spent his summer holidaying in Corfu, Albania and Sicily, had another strong season at Saints in the 2023/24 campaign, bouncing back from a serious knee injury in style.

But the man who was crowned players' player and breakthrough player of the year at the end of a stunning first season at Saints had to deal with being left on the sidelines for both the Premiership play-off semi-final and final.

Such was the competition Saints built in the back three last season, there was no place for the likes of Rory Hutchinson, Tom Seabrook and Ramm in the knockout matches.

And Ramm said: "It's always tough when you get a chat saying 'we're not going to play you this week' but it just proves that the back three options we've got now are unbelievable.

"The competition for spots is so good and that's what drives the performances.

"We've got six, seven, maybe eight boys who can play in that back three. That competition really drives performances and it's all really healthy.

"We're very much trying to bring each other along the path rather than push the other players down so that's made us all better players."

Though he didn't get the chance to help Saints finish the job, Ramm had more than played his part in a sensational season for the black, green and gold.

He scored 10 tries in 15 matches, having overcoming the knee injury that ruled him out between December and March.

And Ramm said: "It was really good for me to put that behind me.

"It didn't drag on for too long and I wasn't thinking about my knee much.

"We had a couple of nice games there where we got the win and I was able to perform how I wanted to.

"It was nice to get back to that.

"I've been building memories and it's been unreal.

"I've only had positive words for my experience over here.

"To win the Premiership is the cherry on top and I can say now that I've won something in my career.

"I'm still loving it."