Arriving in England on Sunday and Northampton on Wednesday, Saints' summer signing Piers Francis has been getting straight into the action, heading over to Stowe School for an Elite Insurance Rugby Academy yesterday.
The fly-half, who is equally comfortable in the centre, says that while getting here, via Argentina where he toured with England in June, has been somewhat of a whirlwind, he's settling in well.
"Good. Everyone's been really friendly," Francis told SaintsTV yesterday.
"I turned up yesterday in Northampton and had my first day at the club today. Had a nice fitness session to start but it's been good, really good."
Returning from New Zealand to his home country after making 24 Super Rugby appearances for the Blues, Francis joined England on their summer tour of Argentina, alongside fellow Saints Dylan Hartley, Harry Mallinder and Jamal Ford-Robinson.
Making his debut off the bench in the first Test, and crossing the whitewash in the second, Francis' first tour with England was a decent one. The 27-year-old said that the whole experience of the tour was very special, and something he hopes to experience again in the future.
"Obviously, we had the two games in Argentina, and personally to be involved with both games and to even get a little try, which I don't get often, was all really cool.
"It was good that the family came over as well, to experience it with me.
"It was a really special couple of weeks but with it only being two games, it was a bit of a whirlwind of a two weeks and it started and finished pretty quick.
"But great memories and hopefully there'll be some more to come."
Speaking about scoring a try for his country before even starting a game for his club, the modest fly-half said that he was just lucky to get on the end of some great work by his England teammate Mike Brown.
"Oh, I was just trying to back up Mike Brown," Francis joked.
He'd done a lot of the work. I thought that if he gets caught then I might just be there as a support role, which is how it panned out. A great offload and I just went over the whitewash. It was good."
Now beginning to settle into Northampton life, Francis said that his focus is fully on getting to know his Saints teammates and earning the right to pull on the black, green and gold jersey, starting with the upcoming preseason games.
"We've got quite a few preseason games coming up, there's one next weekend, which will be good. I've had a couple of weeks off but I'm raring to go now.
"I'm just looking forward to getting to meet the whole squad next week. It's been a bit of a light week this week, with players in and out this week. But I'm looking forward to meeting them and getting stuck into the preseason games."
Tickets for Saints' three home preseason games are priced at £12 for adults with under-16s getting in for just £1. A three-game package is also available with tickets getting you into all three games set at £28 (adults) and £2 (under-16s). Tickets are available to purchase by CLICKING HERE.
