Savala ready to kick on at Saints after successful first start

Charlie Savala is ready to kick on at Saints after making his first start for the club last Saturday.
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The Edinburgh loanee was asked to steer the ship in the absence of England duo Fin Smith and George Furbank.

And Savala was able to help Saints claim a vital bonus-point success as they beat Newcastle Falcons 38-13 at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

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He had only previously made two appearances for the black, green and gold, both of which came from the bench.

Charlie Savala (photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)Charlie Savala (photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
Charlie Savala (photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)

But Savala said: "It wasn't difficult, it was more about finding the combinations.

"Time under pressure in those positions makes you better.

"Training is very different to games, as we saw, but I'm proud of the boys.

"It's been a bit of a roller coaster for me in the past six months.

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"I played about 20 games for Edinburgh last season and was enjoying my time there.

"A new head coach came in and things didn't work out.

"I got the opportunity to come here and I couldn't say no.

"The coaching staff have been unbelievable, the results have been speaking for themselves and I'm really enjoying my time here.

"I'm looking forward to kicking on."

Savala arrived at Saints in November to fill the gap left by James Grayson's departure to Japan.

And the loanee made his mark off the bench as a centre in the win against Toulon in December, forcing the French side into mistakes that led to second-half yellow cards.

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He showed his creativity from fly-half against Newcastle, providing some lovely offloads, including one that opened the door for Tom Litchfield to set up a try for Tom James.

Saints were without five international backs and three injured wingers.

But their makeshift backline proved good enough to overcome Newcastle.

"We had big changes to our squad, especially in our backline, but we got the result," Savala said.

"We weren't at our best but we did enough to win.

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"I feel like the depth in our squad showed and credit to our coaches.

"Even though it wasn't our best performance, I feel like our skills and our basics were good.

"There's some time off now so it's been nice to go into it on a good run of results.

"We'll recuperate and come back."