Having come off second best to London Irish on Boxing Day, James Craig says that the Saints pack in particular are desperate to reverse their fortunes at the Gardens.
The Exiles’ eight played a key role in a last-gasp 25-23 victory at the Madejski Stadium to end 2015 and the Saints second row is expecting a similar challenge in the return leg on Saturday afternoon (3pm).
“It was probably a game we shouldn’t have lost,” he told SaintsTV. “But fair play to them. They pushed us over for a score early on and then won with a penalty try at the end, so particularly up front there’s a bit of a point for us to prove.
“We’ll certainly be motivated to go out and do that.”
Saints have tasted victory on four of their last six outings and while defeat to Wasps could have proved damaging to momentum, their performance at the Stoop showed plenty of promise - something they are keen to build on.
“We’ve got a few things to fix up but no massive changes. I think we gave Quins a bit too much space in the tackle area, which allowed them to offload the ball, and I’m sure that’s something Irish will probably look to do as well.
“In attack we want to keep improving, but I think that’s something we’ve been doing over the past month or so. We’ve looked a lot sharper and hopefully we’ll start to see more of that on the field.”
Tickets for the tie, which also sees the Barwell Stand officially opened on an historic afternoon, can be booked online by CLICKING HERE. Use Print@Home to save on fees and match day queues.
