Following four successive losses since the Gallagher Premiership’s resumption, Northampton Saints face a must-win game against Exeter Chiefs to keep their play-off ambitions alive. (Photo Credit: Steve Haag Sports)
A defeat against one of their fellow top four hopefuls last weekend represented another setback for Chris Boyd and Northampton Saints.
Their lack of momentum leaves their play-off aspirations hanging by a thread whereas before the return of the Gallagher Premiership, a semi-place was very much on the cards.
The Saints began the season on fire after six wins from their first eight domestic matches and Northampton’s free-flowing rugby was catching the eye not only in England, but across Europe too.
But what has followed since their impressive start will have made Saints fans twitchy as a run – which spans over the lockdown period – of just two victories in nine league games means Northampton now face a must-win clash against league leaders Exeter Chiefs tonight in order to keep their play-off dreams alive.
Since the restart, a repeat of their scintillating rugby which we witnessed at the beginning of the season hasn’t been forthcoming and their non-existent spark has hit the Midlands club hard after losing to top four candidates Wasps, Bath and most recently, Harlequins.
Sale Sharks' win over Wasps last night added further spice to an already tasty top four battle, but is this evening 'crunch time' for Northampton Saints as they aim for a play-off spot?
Thoughts from Sam Vesty and Ahsee Tuala: https://t.co/xrs04wdM5F
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— Talking Rugby Union (@TalkRugbyUnion) August 26, 2020
But have the Saints and Boyd got it wrong? Due to the packed fixture schedule, there has been an onus on player welfare which has led to rotation, but Northampton have chopped and changed more than most.
Boyd’s decision to select two completely different teams for this busy period looks to have backfired and despite seeing glimpses of their dazzling rugby against Quins last Sunday, Saints cannot afford to put another foot wrong if they are to make the play-offs for the second season running.
Asked whether he would have done things differently regarding selection, Boyd said: “I don’t think we would of, but that is probably a relevant question in three weeks’ time. We may have got this thing wholly wrong and underestimated the fact that we had two teams that we thought were capable of being competitive.
“When we sat down with our group with our draw that is left, we thought what is the best way for us to do this to keep guys fit and fresh to try and get a performance? We felt the best way to do it was to spilt into two relatively even teams with a four-day turnround.
“What that gave us was eight or nine day turnarounds and I think that philosophy we can question, but what we haven’t got is the performance. The question is, has the performance come from the selection policy or has the performance come from other factors and that’s what we are challenging ourselves on all the time as a coaching group. Did we get it wrong? Time will tell.”
With four days to prepare for this evening’s visit of the league leaders, Boyd has made 11 changes from the side that lost at The Stoop as centres Rory Hutchinson and Matt Proctor keep their places alongside winger Tom Collins and full-back George Furbank.
After this clash with Exeter, the Saints travel to Ashton Gate on Tuesday to take on another top-four hopeful, Bristol Bears, but by the time their trip to the West Country comes around, Northampton’s own play-off ambitions could have been extinguished.
“The leaders group had a meeting at the start of this week and just chatted over a few things, but there is no need to be in full crisis mode at the moment,” said the aforementioned Furbank.
“We don’t feel like we are there anyway. Obviously, it is easier coming into the club on a Monday when you have had a really good victory on a Saturday and spirits are high but I don’t think things are becoming negative. There are not drastic changes which are needed so spirits are really high in camp. We are just looking to work hard, get better and hopefully put those few things right.”
“The players are not stupid, they know we have wedged ourselves into a hole,” Boyd added. “Even if we win five games out of five, taking 20 points, then 60 points is probably not going to be enough to get into the top four.”
It is win or bust for Northampton this evening and the Saints return to Franklin’s Gardens searching for their first home league victory in 2020 following five straight defeats.
They last tasted domestic success on their own patch against Gloucester towards the end of December, but Furbank was keen to point out that his side did get the better of the Chiefs in this corresponding fixture last year.
“It is going to be a tough challenge,” added Furbank. “Last season, Friday night lights, we got a really good victory against Exeter so hopefully we can emulate that. We need to concentrate on ourselves and as Chris said, we probably need five victories from the next five games to give us a chance of making that top four.
“We spoke about it at the start of the season making this place [Franklin’s Gardens] a fortress and we have not been able to do that so it would be nice to turn the tide against Exeter on Friday night.”
Exeter under the Friday Night Lights?
🤩 Wouldn’t mind a bit of this please… pic.twitter.com/FjqigQXuAf
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) September 2, 2020
For Boyd, a home win would of course be welcome but right now, a victory is all the Northampton boss is craving: “The home bit is emotionally important, but we need to win. Whether we’re playing here or in Timbuktu we need to win at the weekend and need to find a way to produce a performance that gives us that victory.”
If the Saints fail to ‘produce a performance’, their eggs for this season will firmly be in the Heineken Champions Cup basket and they actually face tonight’s opponents in their European quarter-final in just over two weeks’ time.
In terms of Exeter, they have continued to build their lead at the top of the table and in doing so, their priorities may have switched towards that last eight tie against the Saints, with a place in the Premiership play-offs all but confirmed.
For Northampton, success ‘on the continent’ may not have been at the top of their agenda coming into the Premiership restart, but after this evening, Boyd admits they will have no other option but to concentrate on Europe if they fail to secure the desired result.
He added: “I think for us it would have been 50/50 to start with. I don’t think we can lose again and make the play-offs for the Premiership so if we lose on Friday then that will probably have an impact on the way we select the team against Bristol. If we lose on Friday night, the focus will be to see if we can salvage something out of the season in that European quarter.”
