Young Gun: George Perkins – England U20s & Saracens wing

George Perkins used to be the fast kid running around people but he has had to find new tricks since joining Saracens and the past two weeks have highlighted how far he has come.
A fortnight ago in Brighton, the 19-year-old wing anticipated two offloads from his forwards to score the winning try against France which handed England the U20s Six Nations and, last week, another late try helped Old Albanians draw at Esher for two vital points in their quest to avoid relegation from National League One.
Perkins juggled rugby with athletics until he was 16 to great success, winning the 2010 U15s National Schools Championship and finishing second at U17s level in 2012, running the 100m in 10.86 seconds.
But involved with Saracens since 14, he opted for rugby and joined Oaklands College. And playing alongside Nathan Earle, Nick Tompkins and Hayden Thompson-Stringer, he realised rugby was not only about being quick and found he had more strings to his bow.
“It’s fair to say I’d have never scored these tries before I joined Saracens,” he told TRP.
“Going to Oaklands changed the way I played. I was playing with Nathan and Nick and I learnt a lot from them. I was a raw, quick kid who stuck to his wing, expecting to run around the opposition.
“I wasn’t the best in the team anymore. People were tackling me and it wasn’t easy to get my head around it but I quickly realised I needed to do more on the pitch if I wanted to kick on.
“Now I’m full time with Saracens, I’m learning a lot from guys like Chris Ashton, David Strettle and Alex Goode. They go through my games with me giving me tips which has helped me improve massively over the past year.
“It was great to score because it showed I’ve improved in my game understanding and most of the tries I’ve scored this year came from me looking for work.”
Since leaving Oaklands last summer, Perkins has made his first team debut for Saracens, being involved in the A-league and LV=Cup winning campaign. But most of his game time has come at Old Albanians, his first taste of men’s rugby.
With his international duties on hold until the Junior World Cup in Italy in June, he is now fully concentrating in helping OAs before dreaming of an eventual Premiership debut for Sarries.
He said: “The JWC is in the back of my mind but I’m really concentrating on helping OAs as much as I can and hopefully we can avoid relegation from National One.
“It’ll be great to have games under my belt before going into the JWC. We sat down with the coaches after the Six Nations and they didn’t want that game against France to be my last before the summer.
“Playing men’s rugby is definitely harder with players who have been around a long time. It was a big of a shock when I first got involved but it’s been hugely beneficial to my game this season.
“We have four world junior champions from last year at Saracens so hopefully I can join them in June. Perhaps that’ll put me in good stead to make my Premier-ship debut next season.”