Saints' 'Slim Reaper' on picking up pounds and pointers from Wilkinson

Every other year, towards the end of pre-season, Northampton's players are given a pair of smart shoes.

Courtesy of a club sponsor - one of the town's many historic cobblers – each pair is personalised with its new owner's 'Saints number', an individual mark of recognition given to everyone have represented the club's first XV.

James Pater was handed his first set with his number - 2,110 - inscribed on the sole, earlier this month.

On Friday, he showed how well he can fill a pair of shoes.

With club captain George Furbank having moved to Harlequins, Pater was named at full-back for the Prem opener against Newcastle Red Bulls.

The 19-year-old crossed for his first try inside four minutes, scored his second inside 15 and ended the evening with a hat-trick, and the player of the match award, donated to him by original recipient Fin Smith.

It was a start to spur on the hype. Pater's gliding runs and timely support lines have already been attracting admiration for England Under-20s and Saints age-grade sides.

"James' ceiling is incredibly high," said Northampton boss Phil Dowson earlier this year., external

"He's incredibly fast and dynamic. He always looks like he has time on the ball. He reads space exceptionally well, he's strong under the high ball, his passing is top quality, he's not afraid to carry the ball into contact or take defenders on, and he finds gaps you don't think are there."

Pater made similarly stealthy progress as a teenager.

He only started playing rugby aged 12.

"I always played football growing up," Pater told BBC Sport.

"I didn't start rugby until I went to secondary school and joined Huntingdon Stags.

"Before that it was always football, I played at a high level - Cambridge United's senior development squad. I also played country cricket and some hockey.

"I only got through to Saints academy at 16, which was relatively late. Others were in it from 13 or so. It was coming up to GCSEs and I had to choose to concentrate on something, so I put football to the side."

Around the same time, a star turn helped secure rugby as Pater's priority.

One of the lots in a local charity auction , externalwas a coaching session with England legend Jonny Wilkinson.

"All the parents from our Shelford Under-16s put £50 in and about 15 of us went down to [England's training base] Pennyhill Park to do a kicking session with him," remembers Pater.

"It was really cool, so fun. I wasn't in the Saints academy then, I just loved played rugby and it wasn't something too serious. But to hear his wisdom was unbelievable."

Last season, Pater played his own starring role in a training session. Before January's Champions Cup meeting with Bordeaux-Begles, Dowson gave Pater the task of replicating mercurial France fly-half Matthieu Jalibert.

"He goes for a lot of chip and chase; little kicks through and likes to create opportunities against unstructured defence," remembers Pater.

"I was just trying to challenge our boys and put people into space."

Pater models his own game more on New Zealand's Beauden Barrett, who shares the versatility to switch between 15 and 10, and Australia's maverick stand-off Quade Cooper.

But at Northampton, inspiration is always close at hand.

"I remember being 17 or 18 in the academy, wanting to make it as a professional and watching Furbs [Furbank], George Hendy and Tommy Freeman tear it up," Pater remembers.

Northampton's production line of talent spins at a dizzying rate. Henry Pollock and Archie McParland - both 21 - are a cohort above Pater, and there is always a new crop of academy prospects blossoming at Franklin's Gardens.

"It's quite [remarkable] actually," says Pater. "Before the Prem Cup game against Saracens [in September], we split into two groups for a warm-up game and I was part of the oldies. I am 19, born July 2007.

"You know there's talent coming through. It keeps everyone keen, wanting the shirt and everyone getting better every day. I like it."

Pater's pre-season goal was to come through that competition and feature in half of Northampton's matchday squads up to Christmas.

The other is to lose a nickname. Weighing 13 and a half stone, Pater was dubbed 'the Slim Reaper' by team-mate Chunya Munga.

Over the summer, building that physique to withstand the rough and tumble of the Prem has been a target.

"I want to be more physically robust, win collisions, challenge people at the gainline and be consistent in playing every Saturday," says Pater

"I'm grinding hard in the gym, I probably have licence to eat whatever I want to put on that weight as well.

"It'll just make me stronger and add to my game, so hopefully it looks better out there when I am running faster and beating people."

Pater, who qualifies for Ireland though his parents and was playing in Ireland's IQ programme, external for eligible overseas prospects before being brought into the England pathway, is not looking too far beyond those goals of establishing himself as a Saints regular.

However, it hasn't escaped his notice either that Pollock's breakthrough season, in which the back row earned senior England and British and Irish Lions selection, came, in terms of academic years, in the equivalent campaign he is in now.

Pater has spoken with England A head coach Mark Mapletoft and the second string have a match against an Argentina XV in November which could be a prime opportunity.

"I don't like to get too far ahead of myself and be arrogant, but obviously I've got goals that I want to achieve," he said.

"But it's all based on performance out on the pitch."

So far, so early in the season, that is only counting in his favour.