Confidence flowing as lethal Collins continues to show his worth

Always relied upon to do a job whether that be at full-back or, predominantly, on the wing, Collins has been able to catch the eye at times.

But these days, it seems like he has much more of an impact on games, much more often.

He has developed an ability to conjure something from nothing, and when chances come his way, he is ruthless.

In his first six seasons since breaking into the first team from the Saints Academy, Collins never scored more than four tries in a campaign.

He didn't have enough continual game time to truly shine and he was unable to establish himself as a true first-choice option.

But in Chris Boyd's first season at Saints, Collins started 20 times, scoring 11 tries.

Last season he bagged a try every two starts, notching eight in 16.

And after delivering a superb score against Ospreys in the final pre-season fixture, Collins hit the ground running in this year's Premiership, grabbing a try double at Sale Sharks last Sunday.

It is not just the frequency that Collins now scores at that is impressive, it is his willingness to try things at all times, from any position on the field.

He can often be seen chipping defenders, as he did to register a sensational score at London Irish back in March, and he uses his pace to devastating effect far more often these days.

And right now, it feels like he is a player who deserves a regular starting spot, whether that be at full-back, as it was last weekend, or on the wing.

"I'm pretty confident and I'm here to enjoy my rugby," said Collins, who has a total of 43 tries in 127 appearances for Saints.

"I feel like in the past I've probably got a bit too caught up in my games and how I've played, and I've gone out on the pitch and hid within myself.

"For me it's about staying true to who I am and what I do on the pitch.

"I'm trying to stay confident, relaxed and enjoy it.

"As a team, it's just backing ourselves with stuff we do.

"We get told in training to do it, to have a crack and if we back each other things will come off.

"We've got a class back three and we're all pushing each other."

And Collins just loves scoring tries.

"It's good fun - I do enjoy it!" the 28-year-old said, smiling broadly.

"It's the best bit, especially being put on the end of a good team try and to help us get something from the game - it could be crucial at the end of the league season."

With George Furbank being eased back after being on England's tour of Australia this summer, Collins was given the nod at 15 at Salford Stadium last Sunday.

He went on to deliver a fine performance, capped with two trademark tries, securing a late losing bonus point for Saints in a 29-22 defeat.

"I enjoyed it (playing at full-back) a lot," Collins said. "It's one of my favourite positions on the pitch because you get your hands on the ball.

"It's very tough with the competition we've got because we've got some class full-backs at this club, but it was a great opportunity for me to play there and show what I can do.

"It was a very frustrating game overall.

"It's a tough place to go first game of the year but we hyped ourselves up and we were in a position to take a bit more than a point.

"We had a tough 10 or 15 minutes and in the Premiership you can't give teams that.

"They scored four tries and it's very difficult to win a game when someone scores four tries against you.

"There were some great positives out there because we put ourselves in a good position - we just didn't execute.

"If we can take that into this week, it will be a good game.

"We've got to be execute and be better in that space."

Saints and London Irish are very likely to deliver a game full of fireworks this weekend as both teams love to play.

"They're very similar to us and there's going to be a lot of turnover ball, a lot of counter-attack opportunities and it's going to be a battle of who can look after the ball the best," Collins said.

"We'll hussle everything.

"They've got a great back three like we have and it's going to be a tough game, but there will be opportunities out there so hopefully we can take a few."