Hard work paying off for Saints hat-trick hero McParland

The Saints scrum-half collected a try treble as he propelled his team to a 40-24 PREM Rugby Cup victory at Harlequins.

And after the game, he explained how happy he was to be able to take his training preparation into the match at the Twickenham Stoop.

"I've been working hard on my game and this competition is great for getting minutes," McParland said.

"To be able to get some good minutes and implement what I've been working on in training was great.

"Especially in this competition with a lot of younger players and people making debuts, you've got to really step up in terms of that leader role and do that through actions.

"It's a different challenge."

He added: "For me it's just about getting game time.

"I was out injured last season and in the year before didn't get too many minutes so it's about trying to get as much game time as possible.

"This competition is great to get those minutes and I'm taking each game and training session as it comes and trying to get better."

Saints had fallen 19-0 down against Harlequins as they initially struggled to get their attacking game to click into gear.

But once it did, they proved too hot for their hosts to handle.

"We're very satisfied," McParland said.

"We take each game as it comes and have a real focus on what we want to do in the game.

"I thought in the first half we were way off it in terms of what we go after and then going into the second half, we really dug deep and got the result so we're really happy with that.

"I'm not too sure what went wrong in the first half. I think we maybe tried to force things and went a bit away from what we have done together as a team in these past few weeks.

"But once we got into half-time, got in a few huddles, had a few comms, we all got together and went well."

McParland was joined on the scoresheet by half-back partner Anthony Belleau, with the pair combining well for the French fly-half's second-half try.

"We've been training together for a long time now and had a few appearances together," McParland said.

"It's great to be alongside such a class 10."

McParland was also impressed with Jack Lewis, the highly-rated Saints Under-18s forward who came off the bench to make his debut against Quins.

"He absolutely smashed someone first play!" McParland said.

"He's been doing it in training constantly so it's great to see him on debut getting stuck in."