Mitchell is the complete pro, says Saints boss Boyd

Mitchell was named players' and supporters’ player of the season thanks to a fine campaign that has seen him score 11 tries in 26 appearances.

The England man, who turned 25 on the day of the end-of-season dinner, has also reached double figures in assists.

And Boyd has been hugely impressed with how Mitchell has stepped up following the departure of Cobus Reinach to Montpellier in 2020.

Boyd said: "With Mitch, I said I was disappointed when we lost Cobus (Reinach) a couple of years ago because Cobus is potentially a world class player when he's on top of his game, a real handful.

"The upside of losing a guy like Cobus, if there is such a thing, is that we all knew here that we needed to provide some oxygen for Alex Mitchell to grow.

"His performances now are underpinned by the fact he's become a relentless trainer.

"He's worked out what he needs to be good so he's doing extra kicking, extra passing, extra tackling - all the bits and pieces he needs for his game to function really well, he's putting a lot of time and effort into it.

"He's very quickly becoming the complete professional.

"It happens very quickly because I remember when I first turned up here and he was in the Academy, and he was driving his grandmother's car. I don't know what it was, it was this funny box-shaped thing and all the boys used to take the mickey out of him.

"He's driving something a little bit different to that now, so things happen pretty quickly for the young fellas."

Boyd believes Mitchell has a striking resemblance to another top scrum-half he has worked with, Jamison Gibson-Park.

New Zealand-born Gibson-Park is key part of the Leinster side that narrowly lost in the European Champions Cup final on Saturday.

And Boyd said: "They're very similar players.

"Unfortunately in the New Zealand Under-20s side that I had, we had to leave Jamison out of that because we had TJ Perenara and Brad Weber who were the two half-backs we took to Italy.

"I'm chuffed for Jamison - he's a great wee player.

"The only difference between Mitch and Jamison is that Jamison has way better taste in music.

"Jammo is the king of the playlist, he's just unbelievable when it comes to music - he can read a crowd like nobody else. When it's down, he's got the up music, when it's up he puts the sobering music on and when it needs to be funny, he puts the funny stuff on. He can read a crowd, that guy.

"He's a great lad and I'm pleased to see him doing well."