Braley feels he is starting to show his worth at Saints

Those were the thoughts of Callum Braley following his fine showing from the bench in last Sunday's 46-17 win against Harlequins.

Braley joined Saints from Benetton during the summer but has yet to start a Gallagher Premiership game.

He has made six appearances in total, coming off the bench in three league matches and starting three Premiership Rugby Cup clashes, skippering the black, green and gold in the pool stages.

But Braley would dearly love a run in the team, and he is hoping his Harlequins showing, in which he caught the eye with an all-action cameo, can prove to be a springboard.

“It's a bit better today than it has been the past couple of months, I'll be honest,” said Braley, when asked during Wednesday's media session how his time at Saints had been going.

“Obviously we've not had some great results in the month prior to the Quins game so it was a good team win, but also personally it felt like the first game I've contributed how I imagined I would when I signed.

“Hopefully I can get some more opportunities and keep contributing to the team.”

When asked why he felt his performance levels against Quins were so high, Braley said: “I'm not really sure, maybe it's just timing because of the way we want to play.

“We do play quite differently to the way I've played in most teams before so maybe it's just time, understanding and feeling more confident in the process we've got here.

“It has been tough to be in and out, play a few Prem Cup games, the odd Premiership game in between.

“It's been hard to get rhythm and really bed in so I'm not sure what it was specifically.

“Not getting on in the game against Munster (the match Saints played prior to the Quins game) really hurt because I really wanted to get on and contribute to the team.

“I just felt like I had some good rhythm out there last weekend so I was happy.

“For any nine, the job's much easier when the forwards are on the front foot, and they were, so I was happy with that.”

As a scrum-half, confidence is key in helping the team to keep ticking.

And Braley is clearly starting to build belief at Saints.

“I've experienced peaks and troughs during my whole career and it's my 11th professional season,” said the 28-year-old.

“Something I'm getting to grips with is believing in myself and having confidence in myself, really making sure I understand my role within the team. You get confidence from that.”

Braley performed well in the Premiership Rugby Cup pool stages, helping to steer Saints into the semi-finals, in which they will travel to London Irish next month.

And he said: “I'm very thankful for those opportunities because without them, I wouldn't have had as much time on the field and had that opportunity to grow and learn in the squad and the team.

“I felt grateful I had opportunities to lead some of those games as well, which helped cement my understanding of how we want to play.

“I'm happy with those opportunities and hopefully I can just keep doing my best and help the team get some results.

“I'm loving being here because it's been awesome to get involved with a great setup and squad.”

Bristol-born Braley notched up more than a century of appearances for Gloucester before making the move to Italy in 2020.

He was a regular for the Italian national team before opting to retire from international rugby prior to his switch to Saints.

And he is happy to be able to focus on life back in England, admitting his stint at Benetton was not the easiest time for him.

“It was a tough two years in Italy to be honest so when I got the opportunity to come to Saints, one of the best clubs in the country in my opinion, it was a no-brainer,” Braley said.

“I'm very happy to be back in England and back in the Premiership. It's the best competition in the world and I just love competing.

“I felt pretty isolated from a family point of view in Italy and it's just culturally very different.

“I don't want to sound closed-minded in that I'm very English, very used to the way of life in England and sometimes changes can be very challenging.

“It's not easy to admit because everyone wants to be able to adapt and overcome certain situations.

“But it was important to us to realise what really mattered to us as a family, and that is our lifestyle here in England that we have with our family support network, school, things like that for the kids. It was a range of different things.”

Braley's next mission is helping Saints to claim what would be a precious Gallagher Premiership victory at Exeter Chiefs on Saturday.

But he knows just how difficult it will be to win at Sandy Park.

“It's definitely one of the toughest places to go in the league, and the league is as competitive as it ever has been with everyone fighting for the same points,” Braley said.

“We're expecting a big physical battle down there.

“Our success away from home hasn't been anywhere near where we'd have liked so we're desperate to put on a positive performance and back up last weekend.

“If we can't do that week on week then it doesn't make must sense to say we want to be pushing towards the top of the league, which is where we want to be.

“We're really focusing on putting in a good performance and bringing the same energy away from home is really important to us.”