After an impressive breakthrough season for the Saints in 2015/16, Teimana Harrison is hoping to bring his England experience back to the club.
The flanker won a hat-trick of player of the season awards after a superb campaign, going on to win his first international cap against Wales before touring Australia with his country.
“It was a bit unexpected.” Harrison told SaintsTV.
“I came into the season not expecting much, not much game time, but to be thrown in and to play almost every game was massive for my development and to get that sort of experience was really nice.”
Not only did Harrison impress in Northampton, his powerful play caught the attention of Eddie Jones and England. Harrison earned two caps over the summer and was grateful for the experience.
“To get away with England was great, just building on that experience, improving my game every week and having the best guys around you to tell you what you’re doing wrong. That sort of experience is invaluable.
“Running out for England for the first time was amazing. With my family and everybody watching it was quite a proud moment. Especially for my mates, myself, my Mrs, everybody. To be honest I think my Mrs’ family were more excited than me. It was amazing but daunting at the same time. To put on your country’s shirt and to represent your country it’s quite different but I enjoyed the challenge and hopefully I’ll do it again.
“I learnt a lot. It made me a much more confident player but as far as learning goes just tweaking things that you do. It’s hard to explain but everything I learnt hopefully I can bring into the team and add value to our team.
“Eddie was a massive influence. Even now he’ll text me saying ‘this is what I want you to do, this is what I want you to work on’ so you go away for that week, you sit down and you keep working on what he’s telling you. He’s an amazing coach, he’s very to the point, he tells you what he wants from you and that’s what he expects. I love having a coach like that, very direct.”
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