Super Rugby Pacific: Western Force coach Simon Cron confirms signing of Northampton winger James Ramm

Western Force coach Simon Cron has all but confirmed the signature of Australian tearaway and Premiership Rugby-league leaders Northampton’s star winger James Ramm at season’s end. The outside back and former Waratah will head home at season’s end to stake his place for a Wallabies berth in next year’s Rugby World Cup berth on home soil. 27 year-old Ramm has scored 31 tries in 68 matches across the last four years since heading to England following an injury-stricken time with the Waratahs. And just last Friday, he set the rugby world abuzz with an incredible 90m solo run to set up a try in his side’s win over Harlequins. Amid reports mid-week of Ramm’s return to Australia next season, Cron confirmed Ramm would be headed west. “One of the areas for us to continue to grow our depth is in our back three and we’ve got a great back three at the moment, and we wanted to keep all of those guys and then add,” Cron said. “He’s an Australian boy through and through, wanting to come home, reached out through a number of the players in our squad and it’s nice to have those guys reaching out and wanting to come back in. “But for us, we want to keep all the guys we currently have there too, and just start to add and continue to grow that depth. “You can see how you need it with (Dylan) Pietsch out at the moment. You need a bit of depth.” Pietsch remains sidelined with a minor foot injury, while off-season signing Darby Lancaster is still nursing a quad injury. Cron also said vice-captain Nick Champion de Crespigny’s knee injury should not keep him out for too long. The Wallabies’ loose forward attempted to play through the pain after sustaining the injury in the first-half of last Saturday’s opening round defeat to the Brumbies, and sported a knee brace on the sidelines at training on Thursday. “It’s just a low-grade MCL. He’s going through his return to play stuff at the moment, but he won’t be available this week,” Cron said. With the hulking figure of Champion de Crespigny out of Saturday’s clash with the Blues at HIF Health Insurance Oval, Cron will shift captain Jeremy Williams out of the second row and into the back row. It also allows the Force three Test-capped line-out options in their starting 15, with former Wallaby Darcy Swain to partner Argentinian lock Franco Molina. “The great thing about Jeremy is he’s so mobile. In the 79th minute, he’s one of the guys that chases back there with enormous spark and gets back onside in defense,” Cron said. “He’s got the mobility and skill to play as a six and as a lock and what that allows us to do is bring in Darcy and Franco together. “With Nick out, it’s a smart move. We were planning on doing it during the pre-season anyway, talked about it a lot, it just gives us the opportunity earlier.”