'Massive' month has set Saints up for the season

Tom Collins believes Saints are building nicely for the long season ahead.
Saints secured a fourth successive win last Saturday (picture: Sharon Lucey)Saints secured a fourth successive win last Saturday (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Saints secured a fourth successive win last Saturday (picture: Sharon Lucey)

And he has hailed his team-mates for coming out firing in recent weeks.

Collins scored another eye-catching try as Saints secured a 30-22 success against Harlequins at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.

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It was a fourth successive win for Jim Mallinder's men, who moved to the top of the Aviva Premiership table.

Saints have provided the perfect response to the opening-day 55-24 drubbing at the hands of Saracens.

And Collins said: "The biggest thing with the Premiership is that the first five or six games are massive and they build your year.

"Obviously the first game against Saracens wasn't great and we took a big look at ourselves after that.

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"We wanted to look where our season was going to end up and the boys have come out firing.

"We need to keep building now - week in, week out."

Saints dotted down four times against Quins, with Collins joined on the scoresheet by George North, Mike Haywood and Ahsee Tuala.

And Collins said: "It was one of those games where in the first few minutes we thought we had it in the bag.

"We scored a few times but then we gave away some silly tries and it's frustrating to go back underneath your posts and have to get that composure together.

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"But the boys came back and it shows where we're at to come out against a good team like Quins and get five points and leave them without a bonus point.

"It's really good."

Collins has hit the ground running this season, making the No.11 shirt his own.

And he is enjoying the razor-sharp attacking game his team have developed in recent times.

"Our attacking game is something we've tried to work on and it's showing," said the 23-year-old, who spent the early part of the summer playing for Sydney-based amateur side Randwick Greens.

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"We've scored out wide and underneath the posts and it's good to be in a team like that.

"Especially as a winger you can float around and get inside and outside 10 and nine and we're scoring good tries.

"I've been working with (attack coach) Alan Dickens about that one step.

"Sometimes I can step too many times and get myself into trouble, so it's something I'm learning.

"It's about that one step, getting through the gap and it's something I've been working on since being at Randwick.

"It's made my game better."