Boyd salutes inspirational Saints star Lawes

Lawes dislocated his thumb in the European Challenge Cup clash with Gloucester back on April 16 and there were fears he could miss the rest of the season.

But, less than two weeks later, the 33-year-old returned to the starting line-up.

And Lawes turned in a gargantuan 80-minute showing to help his side secure a thrilling 32-31 win against the reigning Gallagher Premiership champions.

It was one of a number of huge individual performances in a team display that was up there with the best Saints have mustered under Boyd.

And the Saints boss said: "Between training last Tuesday and the match, I was watching Courtney out of the corner of my eye – just to make sure there was nothing going on with his thumb.

"He’s a world-class player, he’s playing through some discomfort, but he’s an inspiration to the other guys.

“I thought there were a number of players that stood up; Jimmy (Grayson) was good defensively and offensively.

“We lost our way a little bit as a team in that 20-minute period after half-time, but the way that Jimmy and Hutch (Rory Hutchinson) in particular took care of Andre Esterhuizen most of the time was excellent.

“Then there’s Aaron Hinkley, who deserves a mention on his first game for the club; he’s only played 40 minutes of rugby against the British Army in the last two months, but he was pretty decent coming on so early and playing 75-odd minutes.”