Tom Pearson's Saints future set to be resolved

Northampton Saints are set to win their tug-of-war with Gallagher Premiership rivals Gloucester and keep England flanker Tom Pearson at Franklin's Gardens until the summer of 2027.

The Cherry and Whites, who suffered their second defeat in the first three games of the new season at Sale Sharks last Friday, were keen on luring the 24-year-old to Kingsholm when his contract runs out at the end of this season.

They made him an offer, but the Hereford-born openside, who was educated at Dean Close School boarding school in Cheltenham and whose father Andrew is a Gloucester fan, has decided to stay with the reigning Premiership champions.

Pearson was a member of the Gloucester academy as a youngster and was at Cardiff Metropolitan University before joining London Irish, where he made 39 appearances before they went out of business.

Exeter Chiefs failed with a late bid to sign him in June 2023 because he had already agreed on a deal with Saints to sign up alongside fellow former Irish players, Chunya Munga and Tarek Haffar.

The Premiership's breakthrough player and the RPA's young player of the season in 2023 has played 24 times for Saints and was part of the side that beat Bath in last season’s Premiership final at Twickenham.

Pearson is one of a 36-man England training squad that assembled at Pennyhill Park on Monday for a three-day training camp ahead of the Autumn Nations Series, which gets underway against the All Blacks on November 2.

He will be hoping to impress Steve Borthwick enough to force his way into his plans to add to the single cap that he won against Wales in August 2023 as they wound up their preparations for the World Cup in France.

Pearson was also part of the training camp before the Six Nations earlier this year and will be hoping that he isn’t one of the unlucky ones to miss out when Borthwick names his squad later this month.