Harlequins wing Tyrone Green is eager for more game time against Northampton Saints on Saturday after getting his first taste of Gallagher Premiership action off the bench last weekend. 

The South African joined Quins from Emirates Lions in the summer and came on as a second-half substitute in the 33-3 defeat to Exeter Chiefs last Friday night at Twickenham Stoop. 

In a tough encounter against the reigning English and European champions, the hosts gave as good as they got until the closing stages, when three tries in the last ten minutes killed the game off, with Chiefs No.8 Sam Simmonds helping himself to a hat-trick.  

But despite the result, Green is chomping at the bit to get more experience in the English game, starting with the upcoming trip to Franklin’s Gardens to face the Saints. 

“I enjoyed playing and getting out there, it’s been a while since I’ve been out there in the field, I made my debut for this club and I’m hoping there’ll be many more,” Green said.

“It wasn’t the best game, we were in it for 60 or 70 minutes of the game, we just let it slip towards the end. They’re double champions and as soon as you give them a sniff, they take advantage of it. 

“We put up a good challenge, and if we were slightly more disciplined we could have taken the game.”

Both sides head into this weekend’s clash off the back of opening day defeats, with the Saints going down 32-23 to Sale Sharks in their first match of the new season.

Chris Boyd’s side have been on a wretched run of form since rugby restarted back in August, with just one win from their ten domestic games in that time, and none in their last eight Premiership matches.

But despite their recent dip, Green knows his side will have to fight tooth and nail to bring the points back to London and expects a physical battle throughout the 80 minutes on Saturday.

“Every team in the Premiership prides themselves on their forwards, it’s going to be one of those games where our forwards are going to have to step up and take the game to them,” the 22-year-old said.

“But I think we’ve got the players and we’ve got the capabilities to take the game up front, and once our forwards take it up front our backs can thrive off that. 

“They’re a great team, they play some good attacking rugby, they’ve got some good players in their team. They’re also coming off a loss so they’re also hungry for a win, just like us, so it’s going to be an interesting game.”