In years to come, Noah Caluori will look back on his breakthrough season and be reminded of the day he was presented with a crate of beer after his debut for Ampthill.
The teenager has fitted a lot into his first year out of school. He is seven clear at the top of the PREM try-scoring charts for Saracens and has been called up by England, yet his games on loan at Dillingham Park will be remembered just as fondly.
‘It feels like my second home,’ explained the 19-year-old, whose Ampthill team-mates included teachers, engineers, a car salesman and the brother of England women’s star Ellie Kildunne.
‘It’s an opportunity to play with boys that are closer to your age, which is different to the Saracens first team. You’re away from a lot of the media eyes, so it’s an opportunity to play with confidence, focus on Ampthill’s place in the league and earn the right to get back into the Saracens team. It’s basically a proving ground to go out and show what you can do.’
Caluori scored five tries in two games for Ampthill in mini-loans this season, either side of his call-up by England coach Steve Borthwick. Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall often roams the touchline at the second-tier club, which he describes as a ‘godsend’ for his young players.
‘When Noah has gone down to Ampthill, he’s gone down with at least seven or eight other players from the academy,’ said McCall. ‘They are all mates so it’s enjoyable for them. We have an academy coach, James Tirrell, who coaches at Ampthill, so it’s a great link.
Noah Caluori is the runaway leader on the PREM Rugby tries leaderboard with 17 – seven clear of Bristol’s Kalaveti Ravouvou and Northampton’s Tommy Freeman in joint-second
But despite his flying form in the PREM, Caluori is still down at Ampthill regularly on mini-loans from Saracens, learning his trade in the Championship
The 19-year-old was presented with a crate of beer after his debut for the second-tier club last October
| Player | Tries |
|---|---|
| Noah Caluori (Saracens) | 17 |
| Kalaveti Ravouvou (Bristol) | 10 |
| Tommy Freeman (Northampton) | 10 |
| Tom O’Flaherty (Sale) | 9 |
| Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (Exeter) | 9 |
| Gabriel Oghre (Bristol) | 8 |
| Adam Radwan (Leicester) | 8 |
| Gabe Hamer-Webb (Leicester) | 8 |
| Henry Arundell (Bath) | 8 |
‘What impressed me about Noah is how much he’s bought into it. There’s no difference in what we want from Noah in a Saracens jersey to what we want from him in an Ampthill jersey. He’ll go down to Ampthill on a Tuesday or Thursday night and they’ve been massively impressed with how engaged he is.’
Caluori has been joined by the likes of fellow Saracens Angus Hall, Jack Bracken and Tobias Elliott. His biggest challenge in his first year of professionalism has been to work on his defensive positioning, adapting to the growing demands of the men’s game.
‘I go into Sarries when they’re selecting the team on Monday and then I say, “Right, who can go on loan?”’ said Tirrell. ‘It’s a bit of a juggling act. I’m picking up the phone like I’m a broker.
‘A couple of weeks ago, Noah wanted to play in the game against Northampton at Tottenham. When he realised he wasn’t going to play, he didn’t sulk. I told him he had an opportunity to play at Ampthill and he said, “Right, let’s get on it”.
‘The best thing for these youngsters is game time. I took him off with 15 minutes to go because I thought there was potential he could play against Bath the following week. He looked at me to say, “Why are you taking me off?”.
‘If Mark’s not able to come down in person then the games are filmed and he watches them. He’s already spoken to me by the Saturday night asking: “How did so and so play?”
‘Everyone can see Noah’s X factor. He’s not a one-dimensional player. His ball-carrying is unreal, his tackle is getting better, his defensive reading is getting better. He scored an intercept against Sale on Sunday because he’s put a lot of work in with Adam Powell around his positioning in defence. He’s open to feedback and he wants to get better.’
Ampthill head coach Dave Ward described Caluori as ‘exemplary’. The club share many of their attacking systems with Saracens, including their attacking kicking model.
Caluori went from training with second-tier Ampthill to scoring five tries against Sale for the second time this season last weekend
Caluori’s astonishing leap gives him a unique dual threat of speed and aerial ability
‘Noah turns those contestable kicks from a 50-50 to a 90-10,’ Ward said. ‘We might do a few more contestable restarts when we have Noah to use his super-strengths. He’s probably coming in and taking someone’s spot in the team but it goes both ways. Our Ampthill players have had opportunities to go and play with Saracens. We’ve now got Sione Vaenuku going to Saracens, allowing him to get into a full-time programme.
‘If you look at the England side, almost everyone bar Marcus Smith has played in the Championship at some point. Premiership clubs have big squads and the players need to play rugby somewhere.
‘Exeter go to Cornish Pirates, Leicester go to Nottingham, Northampton go to Bedford, Harlequins go to London Scottish and Sale have a good relationship with Caldy. Look at the Bath University team that won the BUCS trophy this week, five or six of those players were playing in the Prem Cup for Bath. Kepu Tuipulotu has played for the Bath uni team this season.’
After his five-try demolition of Sale on Sunday, Ward joked to Caluori that he should come and play in the Championship more often. Ampthill are on track to make the play-offs but Caluori is unlikely to be given more chances to lace up his boots at Dillingham Park.
‘I want to start every week for Sarries, play my best rugby and hopefully get a call-up to the summer tour for England,’ said the youngster.