​Spotlight on… Rory Hutchinson

Born in Cambridge, 23-year-old represented Cambridgeshire, Eastern Counties and the Scottish Exiles while attending Felsted School in North Essex.

He signed for Saints from Shelford and – much like his time with Scotland’s age-grade sides – has shown flexibility across the back line, playing at both centre and on the wing – though he was also seen regularly at stand-off for Scotland U20.

After impressing at Scotland U18 level, Hutchinson was included in the squad to travel to New Zealand for the 2014 IRB Junior World Championship and played in the non-cap warm-up matches in May against Ireland and Wales, scoring a conversion in the latter game.

He featured in both the 2014 and 2015 Six Nations and World Rugby U20 Championships, playing alongside fellow wider-training squad members Magnus Bradbury, Zander Fagerson, Jamie Ritchie, George Horne and Blair Kinghorn, ultimately making 20 appearances.

He made his U20 debut off the bench against South Africa in the opening match of the 2014 World Rugby U20 Championship, converted all three tries in the play-off win over Italy, and added two further conversions in the play-off against Argentina.

He then occupied the stand-off jersey for all five games of the 2015 Six Nations Championship, in which Scotland recorded their highest ever tournament finish of third, before earning reselection for the World Rugby U20 Championship.

Hutchinson broke into the Saints’ first-team squad during the 2016/17 campaign, making his first start and scoring his first try – which would go on to win the club’s try of the season – against Exeter Chiefs.

He also helped the club to back-to-back Premiership Rugby A League titles, scoring against Gloucester United in the 2017 final, before breaking into the first team with earnest in the latter half of this season, scoring five tries and kicking nine conversions in 10 starts since mid-January.