The attitude of Northampton Saints’ young guns is kicking senior players 'into gear’ according to Chunya Munga, ahead of the Club’s first competitive game of the 2026/27 season this weekend in the PREM Rugby Cup against Saracens Saturday (5 August, 3pm).
The opportunity in North London cannot come soon enough for Munga, who led Saints in their victory against Asia Pacific Lions last week, as he enters his fourth season in Black, Green and Gold.
“I'm just really excited to play,” Munga said. “I’m looking forward to the season. I’m feeling in a very good place, mentally and physically, and I feel ready to go.
“I just love playing this game, it’s what I’ve got out of bed to do since I was about 13 years old, so whenever I get an opportunity to play, I’m just really looking forward to it.
Munga reached 50 appearances for the Club last season in the Gallagher PREM victory over Saracens at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in March 2026, and despite only turning 26 himself this week, the powerful lock is one of Saints’ more experienced campaigners as they prepare for the trip to StoneX Stadium to take on Saracens this weekend.
“We do have a very young squad, but we’ve got a squad with a lot of talent, excitement and hunger as well as potential,” he continued.
“I’m excited to see how a lot of those young boys will do this season. The lads who have now come into their first senior year are pretty big, athletic, and pretty switched on.
“We had a laugh and a joke that they’re almost too professional for first years, but it’s a testament to the work the Academy does here because they’ve produced some really good quality lads who are coming in young, are switched on, and they get it quickly.
“I’m pretty sure with how they’ve been in the environment so far, they’ll accelerate into the group very quickly.
“We are all hungry to be here, but that level of enthusiasm and buzz of the young lads being so excited to be here does kick you into gear to make sure you have the same energy and enthusiasm.
“I didn’t come through the Academy here, but when I was watching Saints from afar, it was all local lads who had come through the Academy and were competing at the highest level – and that hasn’t changed.
“You look at a lot of the lads who have played in big finals in the past few years, and they came through the system.
“They come in with confidence and a belief because they know that buying into this system should, hopefully, in the long run, get them to a point where they have successful careers.”
Saints head into the 2026/27 season as reigning PREM champions for the second time in recent memory, and Munga insisted that the group do not want to rest on their laurels heading into a new competitive competition.
“We’ve had conversations as a playing group about what we want this season to look like, and we understand we’re a new group of lads, new combinations, this is a new group with new ambition.
“The idea that Dingers, put to us is that sometimes when you talk about defending things, you can be hesitant because you want to hold onto things, but actually, we want to free this group up because it’s a group that’s at its best when we just play.
“We managed to be successful and lift the trophy last season, and now it’s about how hungry we can be about ironing out the bits of our game that we think we can get better at.
“Performance will hopefully lead to results, and we’re pretty hungry to keep getting better because we know if we do that, we can win as many games as possible.”