New Saint George so happy to be able to learn from Smith and Furbank

The 20-year-old has enjoyed a successful trial period at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens, where he has been able to train alongside, and learn from, England duo Fin Smith and George Furbank.

England Under-20 international Makepeace-Cubitt came through London Irish’s Academy system, featuring for the Exiles from the age of 13 before joining their Senior Academy for the 2022/23 season.

He was yet to make a senior appearance before Irish went into administration, but follows former team-mates Tom Pearson, Chunya Munga and Tarek Haffar to Northampton after featuring for Rams in National League 1.

Makepeace-Cubitt will also link up with England Under-20 team-mates Henry Pollock, Archie McParland, Toby Cousins and Craig Wright – after featuring for his country in three matches as England claimed the 2024 Six Nations title, starting in the side’s 45-31 victory over France on the final day of the competition.

“I found myself at Rams after London Irish sadly folded,” said Makepeace-Cubitt. “I got some consistent game time there and managed to get invited into the England Under-20s camp.

“I had no expectations of playing, but ended up getting some gametime which was brilliant, and then Saints got in touch to invite me in for a trial.

“There’s a lot going well for the club this season, it’s an attractive place to play. When you look at the players that have come through the Academy and how well they’ve done, for me this is somewhere I can see myself getting better as a player.

“That’s the main goal for me at the minute. You want to come into a squad and compete, but it’s also about taking some learnings from the people around you who’ve done it before and who are currently doing it.

“Kicking with Fin (Smith) in training, you can see the detail he goes into, and it will be good to learn from him and Furbs (George Furbank) as well. We have similar styles in the way we play at full-back, but Furbs has really got himself into that second ball-playing role, and that’s something I want to develop. You couldn’t have two better people to learn from.

“For me, it’s all about trying to be a better player. Hopefully I get a chance to play for the Under-20s again this summer, but I want to come back here after that and really compete in this squad. Whether that’s at 10 or 15, playing games for Saints is where I want to get to.”