Ethan Grayson is hoping to follow in his brother's and father's footsteps and break into the Northampton Saints first team.
Ethan, 20, is the younger brother of 24-year-old Saints flyhalf James Grayson, with the brothers lining up at 10 and 12 last Tuesday night in Saints' 49-29 victory over Harlequins in the Premiership Cup.
“It was good, I've played with him twice before but both times I've played on the wing, so wasn't quite as close to him. It's good to have little chats when you're playing and I also know what he's going to do before he does it. The connection is already there and it's a pleasure to play with him,” said Ethan.
Ethan's rugby heroes growing up included Chris Ashton and Jonah Lomu but his biggest inspiration is his father Paul who played for Northampton 259 times between 1993-2005, and also picked up 32 England caps.
He said: “My dad is the reason I'm where I am today. Myself, my twin brother Joel and James are all very similar. We all played at Old Northamptonians as soon as we were old enough, but rugby was never forced on us as dad always said if you don't want to play you don't have to.
“Dinner time always makes for interesting conversation with Joel, my dad and James. I feel bad for my mum because it's rugby 95% of the time but she's used to it now.”
Grayson has been part of the Northampton setup since he was 13 and is currently in his third senior year.
He said: “When I was 17, I played a lot at fly-half because I wasn't quite big enough to play in the centres. Academy coach Will Parkin did a great job and said it's a great chance to develop your skills and it was a really good challenge. The next year I grew and put on something stupid like 10 kilos over summer and ended up playing centre well enough for them to sign me up.”
The versatile back has played three Premiership Cup matches, while also winning nine caps for England U20s but Grayson, who is currently on loan this season at Bedford Blues in the Championship, says he is now determined to make his Premiership bow.
He said: “I want to make my Premiership debut as it's something I haven't been able to crack yet. I'm hoping with more game time at Bedford and in the Prem Cup that I can hopefully get a crack at the Premiership.”
Grayson is enjoying his time on loan at Bedford, scoring two tries in four games, and says he thrives off the club's passionate support. He added: “You hear some horror stories about some loans certainly as a back. It's sad to say but a lot of teams in the Championship are scrum, maul dominant which as a back can be pretty dry to watch at times. Bedford are one of the teams that actually throw it around and boy do they do it well. I don't think there's a better place to be on loan as the lads are all quality and there's always 3-4,000 fans at Goldington Road and the away support is awesome.”
