Prolific Hendy 'greedy' for trophies with Saints

Northampton Saints wing George Hendy said the team are determined to give a historic treble their best shot this season.

They are top of the Prem table, through to the last 16 of the European Champions Cup, and on Sunday travel to Exeter Chiefs in the Prem Rugby Cup semi-finals.

Saints finished second in their group after Hendy's late try set up a match-winning James Pater conversion as they beat Saracens 35-33 last weekend.

"We only have three opportunities to win silverware a year and we want all three - we want to be greedy and go for them," Hendy told BBC Radio Northampton.

The 23-year-old has been one of Northampton's most effective weapons this season with 10 tries in 17 appearances.

But he said the willingness of younger players to take responsibility in the absence of international stars on Six Nations duty had been a major factor in their progress in the competition.

"It is tricky, especially for those first few weeks when the internationals go away, and it feels like they've left a big hole," Hendy said.

"We do a lot of work on leadership and seeing lads step into roles that they might not be used to being in with the internationals being around and leading the game.

"It's now got to a point where we can have five to 10 leaders on a pitch and having small discussions about how the game is going, the context, the conditions, and it's putting the team in the best space to get a performance."

Hendy is in his fifth season at Franklin's Gardens and said winning in the last play against Saracens was a special feeling, despite it being a "dead rubber".

"We spoke a little bit and touched on the back end of the Newcastle game, when we were up by however many points but in the last five, 10 minutes we were on our own tryline and fighting for every inch still to stop them scoring," he said.

"Some lads said they'd been in some environments where they'd be happy to concede in the 83rd minute and just crack on with next week, and I think that shows how competitive we are as a group and how much we want to win."

On his long-range try, Hendy added: "I knew we had a free play to the scrum advantage anyway, and as a backs group, when we have that advantage, it's shoot for the moon and see what happens.

"Pater got the ball away to me and I saw a little half gap and it was just 'go' and I ended up over the line. We wanted to get the result so we could carry our momentum to the semi-final, and that was a big part of our competitiveness."