Teenager Lewis has 'bright future' for Northampton

Northampton Saints coach James Craig has hailed teenage back-row Jack Lewis as another potential star in the making for the club.

The 17-year-old made his first senior start in a 35-33 win over Saracens in the Prem Rugby Cup on Saturday.

"He's a tough lad, he was going to have to get dragged off that pitch, I don't think he'd have come off willingly," Craig told BBC Radio Northampton.

"He's been excellent from the first day he stepped into the senior environment. He's driven a level in training around his physicality, which he clearly prides himself on.

"A year ago he was asked to improve his attacking skill-set and he's improved it. He's now working on his jackaling. He learns fast and he implements in games and if he keeps doing that, he's got a bright future ahead of him."

Saints, who will play Exeter Chiefs in this weekend's semi-finals, matched the Saracens tally of five tries when George Hendy crossed in the 79th minute and fly-half James Pater won the game with the conversion.

One of the tries was scored by George Furbank, who was in the Northampton side for the first time in over a month, having been released from England's Six Nations squad for the game.

"He was class, you could [tell] from the touches he had on the ball to set up a couple of tries," Craig said.

"He's international quality and when he gets a decent run of games, he's probably world class, and I'm sure England will be delighted to see him get through 60 minutes.

Craig is fully expecting Exeter to field a strong line-up in Sunday's game at Sandy Park, while Saints face some tricky selection decisions.

"They've got a lot of pedigree in this competition, it's something they put a lot of credence into... we want to go down there, kick the door in, and see where we end up," he added.

"We've had some discussions already - there's a group that have played the majority of these games that we want to get back involved, but we've got to balance that up with getting lads back playing and ready to go against Newcastle in the Premiership (on 21 March). There's a delicate balance to strike."