Heading into this weekend’s all-important clash with Saracens in Milton Keynes, Saints lie in seventh position in the Aviva Premiership table on joint points with sixth place Harlequins.
Looking for a win to push them back up the table, with just five points separating the teams between fourth and seventh, Ben Foden said that finishing games is something that the team must take on as a mindset if they are to finish where they want to in the table.
“I think it’s the nature of the beast this year for us,” Foden told BT Sport.
“Those close games keep ending on the wrong side of the result. I always say that winning is a habit.
“When you go into the game confident and believing that you’re going to nick the game in the last minutes it makes a massive difference.
“For us at the moment our mindset has been that we might have a good game stolen from us and that’s what’s happened to us in the last couple of games.”
Club captain Tom Wood said that while the frustration of recent weeks have been disappointing for the team, there is no reason that Saints can’t regroup and pull off winning performances over top Aviva Premiership sides.
“Not finishing games a worry but it’s certainly solvable. We’ve just got to straighten some things out and get ourselves organised.
“I don’t know all the answers but there’s no reason why a club of one’s resources and one with the talent we have in the changing room can’t be delivering top quality performances. We’ve just got to find the winning formula.”
Foden said that the side is sure that the results they crave are not far away, with the games against Leicester and Wasps being testament to that.
“It’s frustrating to hear that we’re not considered one of the top four teams. We’re not far away. We’ve run all the big teams very close but we need to find that finishing edge we had in seasons gone by.”
Saints’ forwards coach Dorian West said that clashes between Saints and Saracens in the past have been full-on, physical affairs and that is what is to come this weekend as Saints hope to add to their already notable record against Saracens in recent years.
“We’ve found in the past that if you’re going to beat Saracens, you’ve got to be physical and I can think of quite a few occasions in the last few years that we’ve been physical against them and had positive results. Nothing changes here, that’s the way they play and that’s what you’ve got to do to get on top of them.”
“There’s always been a rivalry between us and Sarries,” Foden added.
“I think it’s a testament to any good player that you can step up for the big occasions and playing one of the best teams in Europe you want to put in a good performance and show the rugby world that we’re a team that are ready to go against them and that we can out our best against them any day of the week.
“We were very close against Leicester, we were very close against Wasps, we can’t afford ot have another very close against Saracens.
“We need to get the victory and whether that means we win 3-0 or 52-50; we just need to get that win.
“That’s what we need at the weekend and that’s something that we’re going to buy into when we take the field.
Saints are now tied on 47 Aviva Premiership league points with Harlequins in the chase for next season’s Champions Cup, and Bath and Leicester are just five points ahead in the battle for the top four. This makes this weekend’s game against Saracens all-the-more important, and every voice will count at Stadium MK.
Tickets remain available from £15, so head to www.tinyurl.com/SAI-SAR-1617 to book now!
