James Grayson (born 26 June 1998) is an English professional

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

player currently playing for the

Premiership Rugby Premiership Rugby, officially known as Gallagher Premiership Rugby, or the Gallagher Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is an English professional rugby union competition. The Premiership has consisted of thirteen clubs since 2021, and is the ...

side

Northampton Saints Northampton Saints (officially Northampton Rugby Football Club) is a professional rugby union club from Northampton, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. They were formed in 1880 as "Northampton St. James", ...

. He plays at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16– ...

Background

Grayson began playing rugby at age 4 with Old Northamptonians where he spent 13 years working his way through the age groups. Educated at

Northampton School for Boys Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is a secondary school in Northampton, England. It was founded as Northampton Town and County Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey, Mayor of Northampton. Education in England#Stages of compulsory education, Yea ...

and

Moulton College Moulton College is a further education college based in Moulton, Northamptonshire, England. Although initially established as the Northamptonshire Institute of Agriculture in 1921, it now has expanded its teaching curriculum to cover a wide ...

, Grayson continued to play for club and school, captaining the Moulton team. Despite now playing at fly-half, his Northampton school master had him play at scrum half and full back, positions that Grayson admits he did not enjoy at the time but rounded his playing style. His Dad is retired fly-half, Paul Grayson who won the

2003 Rugby World Cup The 2003 Rugby World Cup was the fifth Rugby World Cup. Originally planned to be hosted by India, all games were shifted to Australia following a contractual dispute over ground signage rights between the Indian Rugby Union and Rugby World Cup ...

with

England Rugby The England national rugby union team represents England in men's international rugby union. They compete in the annual Six Nations Championship with France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales. England have won the championship on 29 occasions ...

and toured with the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

on their 1997 tour to South Africa. He played for

his entire professional career from 1993-2005.

Club career

In June 2016

confirmed that Grayson along with 5 others would make the step up from the junior academy to the senior academy, all awarded professional contracts for the 2016/17 season. He had been part of the junior academy since he was 13 years old. During his first season, he helped Northampton Wanderers lift the

A League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

trophy beating Gloucester United 36-15. Grayson continues to be a regular name in the Northampton developmental team where in the 2017/18 campaign they once again lifted the A-League trophy beating Exeter Braves 31-21 crowning them back to back champions. The 2017/18 season saw Grayson given his first Premiership start against Sale Sharks, Northampton lost 18-15.

International career

Grayson was selected for the England Saxons under-16s in 2014. The following two years saw him selected for England under-17s in 2015 and under-18s in 2016. Whilst playing with the under-18s his performance played a key part in their 41-9 win against Wales to win the 5 Nations Festival in 2016. He made his England under-20s debut during their 2017 Six Nations campaign, the team beat

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

21-37 with Grayson coming on as a replacement in the second half. He linked up with under-20s again later that year for the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, England fought their way to the final losing to

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

17-64. Grayson turned out for every England under-20s fixture during the 2018 Six Nations campaign. The team were defending their

grand slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

victory from the previous year, they narrowly missed out on reclaiming the title with

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

ultimately winning the competition on points difference.

References

External links

Northampton Saints Player Profile England Rugby Player Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Grayson, James 1998 births Living people English rugby union players Rugby union fly-halves Northampton Saints players Rugby union players from Northampton