'Vesty is going to be even more obsessed' with Saints hat-trick hero Litchfield
Fin Smith says Saints head coach Sam Vesty is ‘going to be even more obsessed’ with Tom Litchfield after the centre scored a hat-trick in the Gallagher PREM play-off semi-final win on Friday night.
Litchfield produced another incredible performance in a season that has been packed with them as he notched a first-half treble in the sensational 45-31 cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens success against Leicester Tigers.
The 24-year-old was named Saints’ players’ player of the season after a campaign in which he has established himself as first choice at centre.
And after the win against Tigers, England fly-half Smith laughed as he said: “Vesty is going to be even more obsessed with him.
"He's going to go from Vesty's favourite to definitely Vesty's favourite.
"He's been outstanding all season.
"He won players' player this season by a long way, he won our backs' player of the season on a more quiet awards night we did.
"He's such a big man.
"He seems like such a nice guy but he's a big, violent man.
"He's great to have outside me because any time I'm in trouble, I just give him the ball and he'll skin a few people.”
Smith also had plenty of praise for his half-back partner on the night as scrum-half Archie McParland impressed again.
“He's brilliant!” Smith said.
"If you told me this time last year we'd lost Mitch (Alex Mitchell) before the play-offs, I would have thought 'it's not looking good'.
"For Archie to come in and make that look seamless - while Mitch is still unbelievable, obviously - and for it not to seem like a huge change between the two, that is massive credit to Arch.
"He's come in under a decent amount of pressure and taken everything in his stride.
"I love playing alongside him and he plays a real positive style of rugby and just doesn't seem to be fazed by anything so long may it continue.”