Teimana Harrison: Northampton's genuine 7

Northampton Saints recruited as well as anyone in the Aviva Premiership in the build-up to the 2015/16 season.

They brought in Kieran Brookes from Newcastle Falcons and Paul Hill from Yorkshire Carnegie, giving them quite the one-two punch at tighthead prop. Brookes has since laid down the gauntlet to Dan Cole for England’s number three jersey whilst Hill has quietly gone about his business as the backup and may yet overtake them both before the next Rugby World Cup.

Further back in the pack, Michael Paterson has settled quickly into life in Northampton’s engine room and Jamie Gibson has been the standout performer among their forwards so far this season. Gibson leads the Saints pack with just over 20 metres carried per game, a 98% tackle completion rate and an extraordinary 34 lineout takes.

The veteran presence of Victor Matfield was also added and should prove not only a big boon to young locks Jordan Onojaife and Alex Moon, but also Courtney Lawes, who now has a year to learn from one of the most accomplished players to ever pick up a rugby ball.

Former Munster fly-half JJ Hanrahan has also impressed in his opportunities and seems to be displacing Stephen Myler as Northampton’s favoured option at 10. The arrival of the Irishman has also given Northampton the option to play two fly-halves if they feel it gives them a tactical advantage.

The other new signings – Sion Bennett, Pat Howard and Tom Kessell – are being phased into life at Northampton via the ‘A’ league and complete what has so far been a very successful haul of recruits.

The likes of Salesi Ma’afu, Phil Dowson and Dominic Walduock, all of whom left Franklin’s Gardens at the end of last season, have seemingly been replaced by more impactful and/or reliable additions. The one player Northampton failed to replace was powerhouse American number eight, Samu Manoa.

Replacing Manoa would’ve been anything but easy, and though they have the confirmed signing of Louis Picamoles to look forward to for the 2016/17 season, it leaves a hole which needs to be filled for the next six or seven months.

Sam Dickinson has done a respectable job filling in, but he doesn’t bring the same dynamic carrying ability that Manoa did. Tom Wood will be a candidate once Calum Clark returns to fitness and the Saints starting XV, but it’s not a position that Wood has excelled in previously.

The answer could be young flanker Teimana Harrison.

With Clark out injured, Harrison, a 23-year-old openside born in Opotiki, New Zealand, has been making the most of his opportunities on Northampton’s bench. In four appearances off the bench and one start, Harrison is averaging 4.5 metres per carry, which is by far the most of the Northampton forwards, and is even more than the majority of Northampton’s backs.

He may not be the kind of physical carrier that Manoa was – very few are – but he’s more elusive than the American. If moved to number eight, his style would be much more similar to that of Irish eight Jamie Heaslip, who represents the fleeter-footed eights as opposed to the marauding power carriers.

Harrison, who qualifies for England through his father, has been knocking on the door of Northampton’s first team for some time now and has only been blocked by the form of Wood and Clark. A move to eight would require some time to adapt, but it would also give Northampton the same dynamic Australia enjoyed at the Rugby World Cup with Michael Hooper and David Pocock.

Wood and Harrison or Clark and Harrison as an openside-eight combination might not have the same pilfering potential as ‘Pooper’, but it would certainly test teams at the contact area in the Premiership and European Champions Cup.

With Gibson in the form of his life at six and Clark and Wood being integral parts to the Northampton machine, moving to eight could be Harrison’s best opportunity for playing time at the Gardens.