Tom Pearson: Flanker 'settled' at Northampton Saints after London Irish collapse

Tom Pearson crosses for a try against Doncaster Knights

Flanker Tom Pearson says he is happy to be settled at Northampton Saints following the collapse of London Irish.

Pearson was one of three former Exiles to join Saints over the summer, along with Chunya Munga and Tarek Haffar.

And he got on the scoresheet for the first time with two tries in Sunday's Premiership Cup win over Doncaster.

"The brand of rugby is very similar to Irish, which has really helped me transition to here," 23-year-old Pearson told BBC Radio Northampton.

"It was quite turbulent for a little while, with moving clubs, moving house - my whole life, within the space of a week, was all over the place.

"I didn't have a base for a while so it's brilliant to really settle and get my teeth into a few games now."

Pearson scored 10 tries in two seasons with London Irish - who went into administration in June - and his 235 regular-season tackles in 2023 was the second highest in the Premiership.

He won an England cap against Wales in August and was a member of Steve Borthwick's training squad prior to the current World Cup in France.

"I've never been involved in World Cup preparation before," said Pearson.

"The calibre of player there, training consistently with blokes like Courts (Courtney Lawes) and Luds (Lewis Ludlam), who I'll hopefully link with later on in the season, was great.

"I learned a lot and will definitely try to bring those learnings to Saints for the new season."

Northampton's Premiership campaign begins at Sale on Sunday, to be followed by the visit of Bristol - who edged out Saints 39-38 in an exciting cup game last month - to the Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens six days later.

"If we look at the team as a whole, and what we need to work on to take it to the next level, physicality in defence would probably be somewhere near the top of the list," Pearson added.

"To go to Sale away first game will be a real tester for us, where we're at mentality wise as a squad.

"I'm very excited about it - it's a great place to start for our squad and our situation."