Saints fly-half Hooley says Myler is his inspiration

Hooley made his first-team debut on Saturday, helping Northampton to a 20-16 LV= Cup win against Saracens.

He kicked five points before coming off to be replaced by Myler in the 63rd minute.

And Hooley is now eager to kick on and emulate Saints’ first-choice No.10, who has been part of England’s Six Nations squad.

“I don’t want to flatter him too much but the last two years he’s just kicked on as a player,” said Hooley of Myler.

“He’s a guy who’s now playing week in, week out at this club and getting a look-in for England.

“He’s deservedly getting looked at by England and is becoming a big Saints favourite for the fans.

“He’s a key cog in the wheel and I look to that and think ‘I want to be like that when I get out there for the Saints first team’. He is an inspiration.”

Hooley showed plenty of character during his debut appearance, recovering from a couple of missed kicks to register his first points for Saints.

And he said: “I thoroughly enjoyed it.

“It was a bit mix and match - some good bits and some not to good bits - but I knew that was going to be the case.

“The guys helped me out and they’d been helping me out all week. I enjoyed every minute of it.

“There was a bit of nerves, but there was a bit of a swirling wind out there.

“I’m not going to use it as an excuse.

“I’ll probably kick myself until next week about the first kick I missed, but I just managed to get on with it and enjoy it.”