Coming into this weekend’s trip to Newcastle Falcons off the back of a disappointing loss last week at Bath, Saints are looking to get back to winning ways in round fifteen of the Aviva Premiership.
Mikey Haywood says that despite the frustration of losing such a tight game last weekend, Saints are ready for the challenge that Newcastle will pose at Kingston Park on Sunday.
“Being honest we were disappointed,” Haywood commented about Saints’ last minute loss to Bath.
“We didn’t start very well, I think we were 19-6 down at half time and we just knew we had to come out firing. It was just disappointing in the end to lose to the last kick of the game.
“But credit to Bath they stuck in, played well and got the win in the end. For us moving forward, we’ve just got to make sure we start with a bang and don’t just finish with one.
“When we’re reviewing the game we don’t look at what we’ve done well, we look at what we’ve done badly and we did a lot of things badly last week. For us to put in that perfect performance would be fantastic and hopefully we can do that to get the win.
Despite Newcastle lying below Saints in the table, the northern side proved to be too much for Saints to handle earlier in the season with the Falcons taking the win when the sides last met at Franklin’s Gardens with a late Vereniki Goneva try.
“You never want to get a double done over you so for us this weekend, it’s going to be huge.
“Not just for a game, obviously we want to right losing to them at home, but in terms of a table point of view.
“If we lose to them this weekend then the win will take them above us and we’re wanting to push for a top four space.
“So we’ve got to make sure that as a team we’re playing well, we’re on point and when we get opportunities to score we take them.”
Looking ahead to Sunday’s match at Kingston Park, Haywood said that Saints will be acutely aware of Newcastle’s danger men and the threats the side will bring at home while trying to edge their way back up the table to the top four spots in an extremely competitive Aviva Premiership
“We know Goneva is a threat and it’s the same with Joel Hodgson, he’s having a great season at Newcastle. They’re their kind of talisman players and you’ve got to respect them.
“For us we’ve just got to make sure that defensively we’re on point and we’ve got those guys marked up.
“Newcastle are a great side at home and to be fair to them they’ve been a good side on the road this season as well.
“Last week they went to Sale and only lost by two points; Sale is a tough place to go so it just shows that in this league there aren’t any easy games to win now, it’s all competitive and the competition is high.”
