Saints centre Burrell hails fearless youngster Hooley

INSTANT IMPACT - Saints centre Luther Burrell was impressed by Will Hooley's performance at Newcastle last weekend (Picture: Sharon Lucey)

The Cambridge-born kicker came into the Saints team last weekend and turned on the style to steer his side to a 35-10 victory at Newcastle Falcons.

He ensured the transition between himself and the injured Stephen Myler was a smooth one and grabbed 18 points in the Kingston Park success.

With the return to fitness of Myler, Hooley returns to the replacements bench for Saturday’s visit of Bath, but Burrell admits he was hugely impressed with the contribution of the 20-year-old last weekend.

And the England man couldn’t have been more glowing in his praise of a talented young player.

“Will’s brilliant,” said the England centre. “He’s learning from Stephen Myler, who has got more than 200 caps for Northampton and is on the radar of England.

“He’s a very experienced head is Stevie. For Will that’s fantastic and the way Will puts his body on the line for the team is great.

“He was chopping Alesana Tuilagi down last weekend and he’s not afraid of anything.

“He’s showing great maturity and it’s fantastic for young players like him to come into the squad and just fit in.”