Clarke, who broke his ankle half-an-hour into the Saints first GUINNESS PREMIERSHIP match of the season against Newcastle on September 3rd 2006, played the whole of the first half at Franklin’s Gardens.

His try was the fifth of the seven that the Wanderers, who featured 11 players aged 19 or under, ran in.

All the attention was on Clarke however, and whether he would have any reaction in his ankle to the hectic action on the park.

“There were no problems at all with the ankle,” he said. “It was more to do with my breathing heavily! It was a very quick and exciting game, awesome to play in. the young lads love to throw it around and it was good to be a part of.

“It came to the point where we were making so many breaks we made a few errors in our passing because the defenders were just everywhere. Our defence was strong as well and to nil them was a good feeling as well.

“I’m happy to have got through it and am looking forward to the next training session.”

Scorer of 14 tries for the Saints, Clarke added to his Wanderers tally with a well taken effort in first-half injury-time that effectively sealed the contest.

“I got try-line fever!” he laughs. “If I’d have messed the try up it would have looked pretty bad as we had a four-on-one overlap. But it was good to get some ball in your hands and play with the young talent of the likes of Grant Anderson and Will Harries.

“The Premiership is a lot more physical but in the sense of sheer running you can’t beat this game last night. It was the way we wanted to play.”

Clarke, who has another year left on his contract and has said that he’d like to stay at the club, received a rapturous welcome from the crowd. He certainly appreciated the support both last night and during his time on the sidelines.

“The fans have been awesome,” he said. “Wishing me the best and asking when I was coming back. It was a good feeling to hear the crowd cheer when my name was read out.”

He also paid tribute to the Wanderers’ coaches.

“It was nice to play for Rob Hunter and Ali Hepher and to be part of their team. Hopefully I’ll move on from there.”