New Edinburgh fly-half James Grayson has revealed the huge influence Wales legend Dan Biggar had on him during their time together at Northampton Saints.
Grayson, 28, has returned to the UK after three years playing in Japan with Mitsubishi Dynaboars, joining Edinburgh ahead of the 2026/27 URC season. The former England Under-20 international is now hoping to establish himself as first-choice fly-half in Scotland, but he has credited Biggar with helping shape his game during his early years at Northampton.
Learning from a top-class professional
Biggar was ahead of Grayson in the pecking order at Franklin's Gardens when the youngster was breaking into the first team, but Grayson insists the experience was hugely beneficial.
"A lot of people maybe would see it negatively, but I had Dan Biggar in front of me at Northampton, which was brilliant," Grayson said. "He was so good to me as a 21 and 22-year-old lad coming through. He took me under his wing."
"The amount of kicking sessions and stuff that he'd grab me and it was really cool for me to see what it's like to be a top-class professional, but also a decent bloke off the field."
Seeking a regular run
Grayson spent six or seven seasons with Northampton but struggled to establish himself as their regular No.10, with Biggar eventually moving to Toulon and England and British & Irish Lions star Finn Smith emerging as his successor. He then moved to Japan, where he finally enjoyed the regular rugby he had been seeking.
"I played a lot of rugby over six or seven seasons at Northampton, but never in a proper run where I felt like it was my team," Grayson said. "As a fly-half, I feel like you really want to have a hold on where the team's going, how you play it, and you want to be involved in strategy and stuff like that. But it was kind of two or three games in, six or seven out, and I never really felt like I could get a proper run of it."
Grayson suffered a broken foot around the time Biggar left Northampton, while Smith subsequently established himself at the club and has gone on to win the Premiership twice and represent England and the British & Irish Lions.
"So it was kind of a perfect storm, really, in terms of not quite getting that chance to take the next step and really put my stamp on it," Grayson said. "Then I could see kind of where Northampton were going. Finn, credit to him, has been brilliant. They've obviously won the league twice under his guidance at number 10, and he's gone on to play for England and the Lions. So, there's no grudges there, but I was just ready to go somewhere where I felt like I could really dig my teeth in and be like: 'Okay, I can put 100 per cent into playing 10 for this team and the coach backs me.' So, that's kind of what Japan was for me, which ultimately was 100 per cent what it turned out to be."
Grayson is now looking to make his mark at Edinburgh after returning closer to home, with rugby and family both factors behind his move to Scotland.
Borthwick makes changes to elite England contracts
England head coach Steve Borthwick has made five changes to his list of players receiving enhanced Elite Player Squad (EPS) contracts ahead of the new season. A total of 25 players have been handed the enhanced deals, with five new additions and five players dropping out from last season's group.
The new faces are Gloucester centre Seb Atkinson, Northampton Saints lock Alex Coles, Sale Sharks prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Bath flanker Guy Pepper and Leicester Tigers scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet. The changes also see Ben Curry, Ollie Lawrence, Tom Willis, Elliot Daly and Tom Roebuck lose their EPS contracts.
Curry was unable to play for England last season because of a recurring hamstring problem, while Lawrence fell out of favour during the Six Nations. Willis has since agreed to leave English rugby for Bordeaux-Begles, while Daly, who turns 34 in October, has also missed out. Roebuck is the other omission, having failed to initially make England's squad for the Nations Championship in July.
There are few surprises among the changes given the depth of options England have in the back three, with Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank and Marcus Smith the only back-three players included in the enhanced EPS group.
England's full list of enhanced EPS contracts is: Seb Atkinson, Fin Baxter, Ollie Chessum, Alex Coles, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Tom Curry, Ben Earl, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, George Ford, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ellis Genge, Jamie George, Joe Heyes, Maro Itoje, George Martin, Alex Mitchell, Asher Opoku-Fordjour, Guy Pepper, Henry Pollock, Henry Slade, Fin Smith, Marcus Smith, Will Stuart and Jack van Poortvliet.
Wales star to take on Owen Farrell in different sport
Wales centre Nick Tompkins will swap rugby for cricket next week when he takes on some of England's biggest rugby stars in a charity T20 match. The Saracens centre has been named in Team Lewis Gregory for the match against a side captained by England and Saracens hooker Jamie George at the County Ground in Taunton on Wednesday, August 19.
Tompkins will line up alongside Somerset stars including Gregory, and fellow Welshman and ex-Liverpool forward Dean Saunders, while George's team features the likes of former England captain Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, Ben Earl and Max Malins. The match is being staged to raise money for the Motor Neurone Disease Association and forms part of Somerset all-rounder Gregory's testimonial year.
George revealed the idea came about after he met Somerset's Tom Kohler-Cadmore at the County Ground earlier this season. The England hooker then recruited his Saracens team-mates for the unusual contest, but despite the obvious crossover between the two sports, George said there was no question of combining the teams.
"We were out to dinner and within seconds we were coming up with a batting order," George said. "I suggested we should merge teams and they said 'no, we want to take them on', categorically rugby versus cricket."
There is some genuine cricketing pedigree within the rugby side, with Daly having represented Surrey as a teenager and played for England at age-group level, while Earl played for Kent Under-15s. George, however, joked that he would not be looking to make too much of an impact with the ball. "I would not bowl and I'd bat at nine or 10 and just be there for morale," he said.
The game will raise funds and awareness for the MND Association, a cause which has strong links to both rugby and cricket. Former England and Gloucestershire fast bowler David 'Syd' Lawrence died in 2025 after being diagnosed with MND, while former Scotland rugby international Doddie Weir died from the disease in 2022. Former England captain Lewis Moody and ex-Gloucester lock Ed Slater are also living with MND.
Team Lewis Gregory: Elliot Daly, Max Malins, Tobias Elliott, Phil Brantingham, James Hadfield, Hugh Tizard, Nick Tompkins, Lewis Gregory (captain), Jamie Overton, Jack Leach, Jake Ball, Dean Saunders. Team Jamie George: Ben Earl, Angus Hall, Fergus Burke, Jamie George (captain), Owen Farrell, Alfie Barbeary, Olly Hartley, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Peter Trego, Tom Abell, Migael Pretorius, James Rew.
