Mark McCall is not a coach prone to hyperbole, the Saracens boss more often keen to dampen enthusiasm than fan the flames of public clamour. But even the softly-spoken Northern Irishman could not resist a healthy heap of praise for Noah Caluori after watching the wing score five tries against Sale for a second time this season. “I think that’s one of the better wing performances in the Premiership that I have seen to be honest, for a long time, and I have seen a lot,” McCall effused. “We have had Ashy [Chris Ashton], Sean Maitland and David Strettle at the club, but I am not sure I have seen as much from one player in one game, albeit it was a game that blew out.”
As McCall hints, there are reasons to mitigate against such grand proclamations, with Sale meek and meagre on their way to a record defeat, but it is hard to see Caluori as anything other than a rapidly budding superstar. It was not just the five tries – though they alone would be enough to hit the headlines – but a composed all-around performance that saw the teenager lay on another for a teammate and display the freakish aerial excellence that immediately catches the eye. McCall, his director of rugby, had tempered expectations on the youngster after his first five-star shredding of the Sharks in October; not so now.
His 17 Prem tries this season have arrived in just six starts, and on Sunday he outshone Tom Roebuck, England’s incumbent right wing. “It is interesting, his performance today was way better than his performance against them last time,” McCall continued. “His defensive performance because he was asked a few questions in the first half, he came up trumps and made a lot of good decisions, a lot of good contacts.
“What’s going to stop him? He’s a great kid who wants to do well and he will work really hard. The possibilities are so exciting for Saracens but exciting for England as well.”
Just three short weeks ago, Caluori was lining up on loan for Ampthill in the Champ; it is far from inconceivable that he will end this season as a full England international. That sort of rise would mirror that of Henry Pollock, although there is a chance that the wing is on a quicker development curve. The temptation for Steve Borthwick, Conor O’Shea and the rest of the performance hierarchy at the Rugby Football Union (RFU) might be to push the brakes, with a World Rugby Junior World Championship running concurrently with the start of England’s Nations Championship campaign in early July. But the prudent move may well be to fast-track Caluori’s development; already a Prem Rugby regular, there are other outside backs at Under 20 level who it may serve better to be given a tournament experience.
The evidence, increasingly, is that Caluori could add value for England. Borthwick gave the 19-year-old a taste of a Test environment in November shortly after that first Sale star-turn, in part to cosplay as Australia’s Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii, and the gruelling travel itinerary this summer may necessitate an inflated squad for the fixture against Fiji particularly. If Tommy Freeman is to be looked at, increasingly, at outside centre – and it is this writer’s view that that is a switch worth persisting with – then there is potentially a wing spot opposite of Immanuel Feyi-Waboso up for grabs.
One should not discount Roebuck, who grew into the Six Nations after an injury-afflicted build-up, or Cadan Murley from the conversation, but Caluori perhaps offers the greatest ceiling. His explosiveness, evident in a rugby league-style finish at Sale, is a point of difference, and England are again in a phase of rebuilding after four successive defeats. If there will be mistakes along the way, as is true of any young player, the best sides in the world are generally favouring high-ceiling athletes out wide.
History shows, too, that callowness need not be a disqualifying factor when it comes to wings at World Cups. Nehe Milner-Skudder (New Zealand in 2015) and Kurt-Lee Arendse (South Africa in 2023) are two recent examples of wings who entered the tournament with low cap counts and provided significant impacts for winning sides; Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe had just 18 international appearances between them before helping the Springboks to victory in Japan in 2019. It may be worth an early look to see if Caluori can propel England to new heights.
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This was, in truth, a good weekend for those who oppose the ring-fencing of the Gallagher Prem, with the four sides with little left to play for thrashed in a series of lop-sided scorelines. Sale’s collapse to an 85-19 defeat was the most striking of these, but Harlequins (48-15 at Bath), Newcastle (62-3 at Leicester) and Gloucester (53-12 at Bristol) did not fare much better on the road. While the play-off race could yet be fascinating, it seems frankly silly that one of Quins and Gloucester will be playing in the Champions Cup next season given the state of their campaigns; their squabble for eighth is a sad indictment.
There is belief internally at the Prem that this is the exception, rather than the rule. It has been a rarity in recent years for the potential play-off hopefuls to narrow so early, and the introduction of a minimum salary spend floor and looming expansion of the league may guard against this sort of dramatic divide in the future. Besides, it is not long since injury-hit Harlequins beat a top-four chasing Bristol, and the investor confidence in the new-look league has been indicated again by the takeover of Exeter by the billionaire owners of Premier League side Bournemouth. It is a more complex debate than some would like to suggest.
