Saints Q&A: Tom Vickers talks to fit-again flanker Tom Pearson

The flanker, one of the stars of the black, green and gold season so far, was understandably worried he may not be able to feature again during the current campaign.

But though the night was not an enjoyable one – Saints went on to lose in heartbreaking fashion in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final – it wasn’t as damaging as initially felt.

After a period of rest and recovery, Pearson was able to return to action from the bench in the record-breaking win against Bristol Bears last time out.

And he is now happy to be able to play his part in the Gallagher PREM title push, with Saints sitting top of the standings ahead of Saturday’s penultimate match of the regular season, at home to Gloucester.

We caught up with Pearson this week to discuss his return from injury, his stellar campaign and much more.

Here is the full question and answer session with the 26-year-old…

Q: Can you tell us about the injury you suffered at Bath?

A: “I broke a bone in my hand at that game which put me out for three weeks. It was frustrating, and I missed some big games – games I thought I could have an impact on. But I’m back now, which is the most important thing, and I’m looking forward to Gloucester on Saturday.”

Q: You tried so hard to carry on in that game at Bath, didn’t you?

A: “I initially broke it, which I kind of suspected, and then got another hit on it after trying to strap it up which arguably made it worse. The physio did a quick test on it, it made a funny noise and then he radioed the doctor to say it was broken so that was the end of my game. I was more worried about tackling (than picking up the ball), so I couldn’t have carried on.”

Q: How was it having to watch the rest of that game from the sidelines?

A: “We’d made a great start, the first 20-25 minutes, and then you could just see them slowly getting back into the game. Obviously, a few of us going off early meant some of our bench came on earlier, and you know Bath at the 50-60-minute mark are going to bring on their ‘bomb squad’, as they call it. They had a real effect on the game and we’d already emptied too much of our bench. It was a frustrating match, but one we just had to take on the chin and crack on with the rest of the year.”

Q: Were you fearing the worst about your injury?

A: “I was. Someone told me that evening that I might have to have a pin in it, which could have meant that would have been the end of my season, in terms of recovery. I was very fortunate I didn’t have to, but I kind of feared the worst. Me and Curtis (Langdon) drove down the day after to see the specialist – he was driving with his right hand and I was doing the gears with my right hand and we got down to Manchester the day after and we got to see the specialist before midday. We both wanted to get on with it and get some answers and then crack on with our recovery.”

Q: What was your recovery process like?

A: “I was lucky I didn’t have to have an op, so it was just a case of having it in a cast for a couple of weeks and then slowly get my strength back. I’ve been icing it loads then putting it into a bucket of dried rice and getting my grip strength through that by grabbing it and squeezing it, which built back up the muscles and strength in my hand.”

Q: How was it making your comeback against Bristol?

A: “I felt absolutely fine. I wear a glove now, and I probably will until the end of the season, which a lot of people think is a bit of a fashion statement but it’s actually just to protect my hand. It’s a hurling glove which has quite a hard outer case made of hard plastic, so that gives me a bit of extra protection.”

Q: Will you keep it on if Saints win the PREM?

A: “Fingers crossed, we win the PREM! There are worse things you have to do, so if that means keeping the glove, that’s fine by me.”

Q: How much are you looking forward to playing against Gloucester on Saturday?

A: “We’re very excited. They like to play good rugby as well, I know the sun is going to be out, it’s a sold-out game as well which will be great, so it’s all looking good for Saturday. Some of our motivation for this game is that it’s our last league game here but hopefully not our last game of the season. We want to make the most of it for guys like Sam Graham, James Ramm, obviously Furbs (George Furbank) who have added so much to the shirt in the last few seasons. It would be great to give them one more (home) game after Saturday.”

Q: Do you think Gloucester will be in a better state of mind than a few weeks ago, given they have picked up some results?

A: “They’ve had a couple of wins recently and they’re a good attacking outfit. They shocked us here a couple of years ago and beat us quite comfortably, so we’ve got to be on it. We’re looking forward to the weekend – there’s a lot of confidence around this place at the moment and our home form has been good, so we’re looking forward to going again on Saturday.”

Q: Are you expecting a different game to the match at Kingsholm (when Saints won narrowly)?

A: “That was a mega game. I went to school in Cheltenham, so it was a local one for me and I managed to catch up with a few people, but it was a hell of a game and for it to go down to the wire at the end was great. I do also think that game kick-started our season because we’ve won a fair few close games this year. That was one of them early on which gave us a lot of confidence going forward. We were without our Lions guys at the time so it just showed the confidence levels in the wider squad and the amount of depth we’ve got, so that was a good day.”

Q: “What was it like watching the Bristol game from the bench before you came on?

A: “It was pretty manic but in a good way. I just feel like a lot of stuff clicked that game, our execution was good, our energy was brilliant and it was a much-needed bounce back after the result at Leicester the week before.”

Q: Was it important to go into a week’s break off the back of a performance like that?

A: “There are arguments for wanting to play again and have another game, and not lose that rhythm, but we’ve had two good training weeks now, so we’re confident going into this weekend.”

Q: How was last week?

A: “We treated it like a normal week and then had like a game simulation session on the Friday. The guys that needed a rest probably got more of a rest, but guys like myself who needed to train and get back into it did a bit more training. Weeks like that are invaluable in the season and it was a great week to just improve on yourself physically and from a rugby point of view.”

Q: How have you felt this season has gone personally?

A: “I was happy with how I started. I just wanted to be as consistent as possible. The injury was frustrating but it’s good to be back now and I want to pick up where I left off.”

Q: You got the chance to go to the cricket to watch Northants last Friday. How was that?

A: “That was really good. I’m a bit of a cricket nause, to be honest, I quite like it and it was great down there. Obviously, it went down to the last ball, so it was nice and close, and I think (Northants head coach) Darren Lehmann came out and said that he quite enjoyed our support on that particular evening, which was nice. Hopefully we’ll get to do it again soon and it’s great to see them doing so well. I had a chat with Danilo Fischetti and Marco Manfredi about how it all works, which took a little while, but we got there in the end!”