'Such a hard man to tackle' - Vesty hails Saints back Hendy

And the Saints head coach feels giving the electric back the freedom to do what he does best is key to his impressive performances.

Hendy came off the bench to help turn the game on its head last Saturday as he provided two moments of individual magic.

The 23-year-old set up Rory Hutchinson with a sparkling solo run, and he then delivered another one to score himself and level things up.

Saints had been 12 points down with six minutes to go, but Hendy's brilliance teed up a match-winning conversion for James Pater.

And the young fly-half landed it to hand Saints a thrilling 35-33 PREM Rugby Cup pool-stage win against Saracens at a jubilant, sold-out cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

When asked about Hendy at this week's media session, Vesty smiled and said: "He did very well, didn't he?

"He's such a hard man to tackle because he's strong and I'm pretty sure he has no idea where he's going so therefore the defender's not got much of a chance!

"He had a couple of great impacts in that game."

When asked how he coaches Hendy, Vesty said: "(It's about) the freedom to go and do what you're really good at, just back yourself to go and do what you're good at.

"Honestly, try not to get in the way!

"He's so good at that sort of stuff so we concentrate on other bits he can improve on, knowing he has that part of his game where he just goes and backs himself.

"We say ‘good luck to you and we'll back you’."

Hendy was credited by Pater after last weekend’s game for speaking positively in the huddle after Saints had gone 12 points down late on.

And as it turned out, it wasn't just words that Hendy delivered with.

"He's grown in that (leadership) respect over the past couple of years," Vesty said.

"He's grown to have a voice and have a really good sensible, tactical, energy-driving voice.

"I'm really impressed to have seen that over the past few years."