Competition for places pushing Saints ace Hinkley to new heights

The flanker appeared to be everywhere on the pitch as he claimed the plaudits for a superb showing against Bristol Bears.

Hinkley looked fired up from the off, powering into contact at every opportunity.

And he also showcased his skill as the game went on, with a back-door offload, that led to a James Grayson try, one of the moments of the match.

Hinkley had been finding his rhythm and catching the eye before he was left out of the matchday squad against Bath last weekend.

But he was back in the seven shirt against Bristol, and he showed he doesn't plan to relinquish it again any time soon.

"So far this season, the story has been that I'm dropped or I'm starting," Hinkley said.

"It's so competitive in that four, five, six, seven, eight, 19, 20 that whoever puts their hand up one week will be playing the next week.

"It's good to have such healthy competition and it's pushing all of us as a back row to be better.

"It's definitely the most competitive side I've been in."

And if you thought Hinkley was fired up against Bristol, just imagine how he's going to be when he faces former club Exeter Chiefs at the Gardens on Friday night.

The 23-year-old joined Exeter from Gloucester back in 2020, but he wasn't able to secure a regular starting spot at Sandy Park.

Hinkley eventually ended up on trial at Saints towards the end of last season, and he has impressed ever since, deservedly earning a permanent deal in black, green and gold.

"I've got a point to prove, but at the same time it's about staying in the system, doing what I do and not getting too excited," said Hinkley ahead of the Exeter clash.

"It's just another game at the end of the day but there's going to be that little bit extra where I want to do that little bit better and push that little bit harder.

"But that will only be a matter of 0.5 per cent because every game is flat out and I want to play well in every single game."

Hinkley certainly played well on Saturday, earning praise from Saints boss Phil Dowson, who went some way to explaining why the flanker missed out against Bath.

"I've been trying to keep him on a leash, and this was the time to release the hounds," Dowson said.

"He was excellent, his work rate is second to none and he has huge desire to be successful.

"You see his quality around the pitch in terms of his defensive effort, in terms of that offload for the score in the second half - it was absolutely brilliant.

"I was really pleased for Aaron and he's a quality player."

Hinkley's strong showing was part of a big Saints effort as they bounced back from the Bath defeat with a much-needed bonus-point Gallagher Premiership win.

Saints were flying after scoring four tries in 18 first-half minutes, but Bristol did creep back into the game in the second half, mounting something of a comeback before it was snuffed out by the Grayson score.

"It was a very open game, definitely a game of two halves because they ran it so well in the second half," Hinkley said.

"We said we need to work out why this is happening, why we're getting such good leads against sides and why we're not keeping them out for long enough.

"We're not putting in 80-minute performances, and that's Monday's job, but we got five points so we can't argue.

"We know when we get hold of the ball, we're the best attacking side of the league and we can score tries from anywhere.

"It's about getting ourselves in the right areas to play and looking after the ball, doing all the little things right so we can actually do well.

"Our brand of rugby is about keeping the ball alive and we've got talent to score length-of-the-pitch tries, which is what we did.

"We knew Bristol wanted to play from everywhere and our plan was to suffocate that, which we did really well in the first half, but the second half they got the better of us."