Premiership debut leaves Saints wing Collins wanting more

The 19-year-old wing made his league bow in the 19-14 victory at the Madejski Stadium on Sunday.

It was a steady showing from the Academy graduate, whose first appearance for the first team was in an LV= Cup game against Gloucester in January, as he played his part in a fine team effort.

Collins was happy to have finally graced the Premiership and is now optimistic about what lies ahead.

“It was nice to get out there and get a bit of game time, especially with the rest of the lads,” he said.

“I train week in, week out with them and obviously to go and play at the weekend it’s quality.

“Obviously playing in the Wanderers we haven’t had many games recently and I haven’t been on loan either so to be involved with the first team is good experience.

“We’ll see how the next couple of weeks go in the LV= Cup and hopefully there’s more (first team appearances) to come in the season.”

Saints were only able to score one try in the win at Irish, with James Wilson dotting down during the first half.

But their defence held firm to secure a superb success and Collins is now eager to maintain the momentum in the LV= Cup during the next couple of weeks.

“We had a few execution problems on Sunday,” he said. “A couple of times we could have come away with points but apart from that we did well to close out a tough game.

“They’ve only lost one game there this year and to come away with a win, especially after last year coming here and getting beaten by a bit, will hopefully mean we can go and do well in the LV= Cup over the next couple of weeks.”