Boss Boyd reveals conversations that led to Saints duo starring against Falcons

After last Friday's impressive 31-17 Gallagher Premiership win at Newcastle Falcons, Boyd spoke about two men who had starred in the bonus-point victory.

Tom Collins scored a first-half hat-trick but was just edged out in the star man rankings by Courtney Lawes, who led a huge defensive effort after the break.

And when asked about the display of England lock Lawes, Boyd said: "I thought despite the fact Tommy Collins scored three tries, Courtney Lawes was my man of the match.

"He was absolutely outstanding and to be fair, we had a pretty interesting conversation during the week and he was feeling he needed to make a bigger contribution for us with other senior players missing.

"And he delivered in spades for us, both defensively and offensively.

"I thought he was tremendous."

Collins, who has been in and out of the first team this season, now looks likely to start against Worcester Warriors on Saturday after impressing against Falcons.

And Boyd joked: "I'm trying to work out whether or not I pick him next week to see if I get a response the week after.

"By his own admission, he's been a bit up and down.

"When he's up, he's scorching hot and there are not many players with faster feet and faster hands than Tommy.

"He's a real handful if you give him space.

"We had a pretty interesting conversation during the week when George Furbank didn't recover sifficiently from his head knock against Harlequins.

"It was another chance for Tommy and he probably needed to grab it with both hands. By and large, he did that."

Collins appears to be enjoying working with Boyd and receiving the experienced boss's words of wisdom, even if they are not always easy to hear.

"Chris is really good, we speak and we know where we're at with each other," Collins said.

"He's brutally honest and although sometimes you don't want to hear it, it's good because after a week or so you get your head around it and start focusing on stuff.

"It's good to get the opportunity and we did really well during the first half last Friday.

"We take the win and move on."