Northampton Saints star outlines Champions Cup as ‘next step’ following semi-final berth last season
James Ramm scoring for Northampton Saints in 2023/2024
Northampton Saints flyer James Ramm believes the next logical step for the Premiership outfit is to become a serious contender for the Champions Cup title, and has outlined their goal of reaching their first final since 2011.
The Saints romped to the semi-final’s of the Champions Cup last year, and pushed Leinster all the way in an incredible game at Croke Park; but they ultimately fell to an agonising 20-17 defeat.
“Hopefully this year we take that next step to the final”
Whilst the loss hurt at the time, Ramm believes their Champions Cup run and the performance against Leinster – mainly in the closing stages – shows they can be a serious contender for European glory this year.
“The last 10 minutes of that Leinster game, I certainly thought we would do it; so as much as it hurt we take a lot from it,” Ramm told Planet Rugby.
Why South Africa may not host a Champions Cup final anytime soon
“We really need to kick on in Europe. My first year here, we didn’t win a game in Europe so to then make the semis is a massive step and hopefully this year we take that next step to the final.”
He added: “We’ll take a lot from what we learnt last year and we’ll grow on that. It’s not going from not winning a game to getting to the final, it’s going from the semi-final to a final so it’s only one more step. It’s definitely a goal of ours.”
Confidence in their game
It isn’t just in Europe where the Saints have high aspirations. The reigning Premiership champions are one of the title favourites again this year, but it could be a slightly harder year for them this time around.
Tyrone Green maps out bold objective as Harlequins ‘excited to go again’ ahead of Premiership season
Their DNA last season was deploying a free-flowing, fast attack built off the likes of emerging stars Ollie Sleightholme, George Hendy and Ramm himself, but now oppositions will be more aware of the threat posed by the entire squad.
Despite this, though, Ramm believes his side are confident enough in their own game, and detailed a ‘try and stop us’ mentality within the playing group at Franklin’s Gardens.
“Vesty says this quite a lot, it doesn’t matter if they know what we’re doing if we do it well enough,” said Ramm.
“If we execute what we want to do to the level we want to, we back ourselves enough to think ‘try and stop it’. That’s level of confidence in our own game is really important, and the coaches really instill that.”