Young Gun: Nathan Earle – Saracens winger

Every so often you can pinpoint the exact moment when a sporting star is born.
For Wayne Rooney it was his goal for Everton against Arsenal; for Saracens youngster Nathan Earle it came against a star-studded BGC Asia Pacific Barbarians team in Hong Kong in June.
Fly-half Orene Ai’i had attempted a crossfield kick to Alesana Tuilagi and the former Leicester wing was in the process of juggling the ball when it was ripped off him by Earle inside his own half.
Even as the 17-year-old wing streaked away Mils Muliaina was in position at full-back to cut off any threat.
But the greatest full-back of his generation was left grasping at thin air as Earle showed the All Black his step before disappearing in a blink of an eye and past the covering Ai’i to touch down.
It will be another year before we can witness further such acts with Earle still at Oaklands College but even a month later Earle cannot quite believe how his own audacity paid off.
He said: “I still get a lot of banter off my mates for it and it is hard to believe how it happened.
“You don’t really think in those situations. Alesana dropped the ball, I picked it up and stepped Mils.
“I definitely didn’t say anything to him, I have too much respect for a player like that and I am sure doing that was embarrassing enough for him as it was.
 
“Just being able to run out for Saracens in a stadium like that was a dream for me. I grew up in Hong Kong so to play out there was an incredible experience.”
Earle was immersed in rugby from an early age by the city’s expat community and was taken by his father to the Hong Kong Sevens, when Jonah Lomu and Tana Umaga were in their pomp.
The All Black greats’ influence obviously wore off on Earle, who turns 18 in September, for the moment he picked up a rugby ball he wanted to be a back.
However the biggest current influence on Earle is in the shape of Saracens’ academy coach and England great Richard Hill.
“Richard has this mentoring role with the academy and his advice has been really invaluable,” added Earle.
“He always says never take your foot off the gas because you’ll always regret it if you haven’t given everything to your career. Hopefully I will be involved as much as I can be with Saracens next season and might make a couple of appearances for the Storm side.
“There are so many great people to learn off in the first team. David Strettle works so hard on his game all the time and to get advice from someone like Chris Ashton would be unbelievable.”
Earle made his senior bow for Saracens in the LV=Cup but his focus is purely on his A-Level studies at Oakland.
However, in the FIRA/AER European Championships, Earl scored his maiden try for the U18s against Georgia and is already swotting up on tips for the forthcoming tour of South Africa which he hopes to be on.
He said:“I have got another year at college and I will need to concentrate on that.
“My dream is to be a professional rugby player but whatever happens I will always be able to say I stepped Mils Muliaina.”
See the try here