Ben Nutley has signed a two-year first team contract with Premiership rugby club Northampton Saints.
The Luton-born forward was one of three current Senior Academy squad members, including Jamie Elliott and Mike Haywood to have inked deals.
Nutley has come through the Saints youth system to show his first team credentials this season in Aviva Premiership Rugby, the Heineken Cup and LV= Cup.
The 19-year-old has grabbed some attention this season. Although he made his first team debut in 2010/11’s LV= Cup, the flanker started the first five matches of the current Aviva Premiership Rugby campaign and made his Heineken Cup debut in the trip to Castres.
Like Elliott, Nutley – educated at the Saints partner college Moulton College – has been included in the 2011/12 England Under-20 Elite Player Squad.
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder says that having quality players like Elliott, Nutley and Haywood all come through the Saints Academy system into the first team squad is vital for the future prosperity of the club.
“Players like Jamie, Ben and Mike are the future lifeblood of Northampton Saints,” he said.
“It is always good to have players in the squad who the fans can see as being their own having watched their development over a number of years.
"The players themselves have grown up in the culture of the club and we have seen how vital that is to the ongoing success of other teams that have been at the top of their leagues for a number of years.
“More importantly, all three have shown that they are ready for first team rugby and have the quality to be able to compete at the highest levels of Aviva Premiership Rugby and the Heineken Cup.
“It speaks volumes for the work being done by Alan Dickens and Mark Hopley and the rest of the Academy coaches and I’m delighted that Jamie, Ben and Mike have signed full contracts with us.”
