Wizard time in Oz saved Tom

TOM COLLINS is Northampton through and through but it took a stint at Eddie Jones’s old club in Sydney to enhance his credentials as a hometown hero. Two years ago injuries and a dip in form slowed the 24-year-old wing’s progress at Franklin’s Gardens but a few months at Randwick transformed him. ‘I would recommend it, 100 per cent,’ said Collins (right), who knows victory at Exeter this afternoon will clinch a play-off place for Saints. ‘I wish I’d gone over [to Australia] a bit earlier. I learned to adapt and back myself because they just play really. Whatever happens, the ball bounces and you just play rugby, you don’t think about things so much. That helped me.’ Collins, who could win Premiership Try of the Season for a long-range effort against Sale, added: ‘I’ve been here since we won the Premiership title and it’s been such an up-and-down period from then on. Saints are a huge team. They were feared back then and I think it’s starting to get that way again.’