New Edinburgh fly-half on Wales legend's Northampton influence, developing in Japan and why he chose Scotland

The former Northampton Saints players has spent the last three years in Japan with Mitsubishi Dynaboars and is now back in the UK and looking to lead Sean Everitt’s side to success from the ten jersey. The former England under-20 international is hoping to establish himself as first choice stand-off at the Hive going into the 2026/27 URC season.

Speaking about why he wanted to sign with Edinburgh, Grayson said: “There were a few reasons, really. Primarily the rugby reason for me is, I'm 28 years old now, I've been to Japan and experienced some different things and I feel like I've got a good amount of rugby under my belt and I wanted to really challenge myself.

New Edinburgh fly-half James Grayson targeting success in Scotland after three years in Japan

“I should be coming into my prime now as a fly half at 28. I wanted to challenge myself in a really good league for a good team which has a lot of potential but has potentially under-fired the last couple of years and Sean and the coaches explained their vision for what they want in the team and I felt like I could help and be a good performer for the club in this league.

“Secondly, Japan's a long way away and we've got married, Jess and I, and being a little bit closer to family, this side of the world, is something that meant a little bit to us and we thought it was the right time to come back.”

There were a few familiar faces ready to welcome the new arrival to Scotland including former Northampton teammate Paul Hill with Grayson adding: “I spoke to Hilly after signing and he was really good in pointing me in the right direction of places to stay . Since I've come to the club, the boys and the coaches have been brilliant, managed to make friends quickly enough and the same for my partner, she's already picked up a couple of friends and it's starting to feel like home day by day which is nice.”

He arrives at Edinburgh having learned from one of the best fly-halfs of his generation in Dan Biggar, who was at Franklin’s Gardens when Grayson was breaking into the first team. He credits the 112-times capped Welsh legend with helping him learn the tricks of the trade as a youngster.

Although having the two-time British & Irish Lion in front of him would limit his playing time, Grayson is thrilled to have had that experience, saying: “A lot of people maybe would see it negatively, but I had Dan Biggar in front of me at Northampton, which was brilliant.

“He was so good to me as a 21 and 22-year-old lad coming through. He took me under his wing. The amount of kicking sessions and stuff that he'd grab me and it was really cool for me to see what it's like to be a top-class professional, but also a decent bloke off the field.

“I played a lot of rugby over six or seven seasons at Northampton, but never in a proper run where I felt like it was my team. And as a fly-half, I feel like you really want to have a hold on where the team's going, how you play it, and you want to be involved in strategy and stuff like that, but it was kind of two or three games in, six or seven out, and I never really felt like I could get a proper run of it.

“Then Dan went to Toulon and Finn Smith came in, and I broke my foot. So it was kind of a perfect storm, really, in terms of not quite getting that chance to take the next step and really put my stamp on it. Then I could see kind of where Northampton were going. Finn, credit to him, has been brilliant. They've obviously won the league twice under his guidance at number 10, and he's gone on to play for England and the Lions.

“So, there's no grudges there, but I was just ready to go somewhere where I felt like I could really dig my teeth in and be like: ‘Okay, I can put 100 percent into playing 10 for this team and the coach backs me. ‘So, that’s kind of what Japan was for me, which ultimately was 100 percent what it turned out to be.”

How playing alongside world’s best has helped new Edinburgh signing develop

The emergence of Finn Smith at Northampton was one of the catalysts that encouraged Grayson to make the move to Japan. The experience of playing there has also had a hugely positive impact on his career development.

“It was amazing.,” added Grayson. “Playing against the best players in the world. If you look at the league, they are sprinkled with the best three players from every nation almost – Pieter-Steph du Toit, Richie Mo’unga, Beauden Barrett – I've played against some brilliant players so it was cool to match up against those guys and see how they operate.

“Coupled with that, from my first year to the last year, the league improved dramatically. The Japanese boys are, as you'd imagine, super diligent, hard-working and they're desperate to get better which is really enjoyable to be part of.

“For me as a fly-half, going somewhere where there's so many different cultures because you've got Japanese, you've got Kiwis, South Africans, quite a lot of Polynesian players, I was able to play the chameleon a little bit and get the best out of different people. These boys react in different ways so that was a learning curve for me and something that I prided myself on being able to do pretty well.

“Ultimately the reason I went there was to go and play rugby and I played 48 games out of 50 or 52. So I got what I needed to get out of Japan and it was really, really beneficial for my rugby and coupled with a life experience as well for myself and my wife.”

James Grayson was speaking ahead of Friday's ticket on-sale for Edinburgh Rugby's 1872 Cup match against Glasgow Warriors, taking place at Scottish Gas Murrayfield this December. Get your tickets at edinburghrugby.org from 2pm this Friday.

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