Northampton Saints return to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens for the first time in a new Investec Champions Cup campaign, and winger George Hendy said that the men in Black, Green and Gold are ready to welcome a physical Vodacom Bulls side.
Sunday’s fixture at cinch Stadium (kick-off: 3.15pm) marks another clash in what is becoming a regular rivalry in the Champions Cup over the past three seasons, as Saints look to back up last weekend’s victory away to Section Paloise.
“We’ve beaten the Bulls twice now in recent years,” Hendy said. “And we know they’ll be hurting from it.
“They pride themselves on being a physically dominant side with a pretty electric backline, too. We’ve identified that, but as most weeks we’re just focusing on ourselves, and we know that if we can do the bits that we want to do well, we’ll come away with the result.
“It was a pretty good week when we went away to Pretoria last year. That was another away fixture that not many teams manage to come away with a result.
Saints opened up their 25/26 Champions Cup campaign in style with a 27-35 win last weekend away at the Stade Municipal de Hameau.
“We relished the opportunity to go and get a win away in France,” Hendy explained. “Those opportunities don’t come around very often, so as a group we absolutely loved that experience.
“We knew that Pau would be strong; they’re flying in the Top 14 and have a strong home record as well, and not many teams win there.
“We wanted to go and kick the door in, in front of a big, noisy French crowd, and we managed to do that at the weekend.
“This week, we’ve looked at how we can improve that execution. We were dominating in a lot of areas, but nothing was quite sticking, so that’s been our big focus this week of not forcing things and looking after and respecting the ball.”
Last Sunday’s clash in France was the perfect start for Saints in Europe, with a full five points away from home, and it was a try from Hendy that secured the victory
On the try, his 25th in a Saints shirt, Hendy said, “I just tried to catch it and run, really, that’s my mindset the majority of the time!
“Toby [Thame] did really well to get the ball away to me, and big credit to Fin [Smith] shifting on the fly, that’s why he’s one of the best fly-halves in the country, his skillset is ridiculous, and he makes all of us around him look good.
“Every day in training Sam Vesty challenges us to think differently about decision making. It’s always about eyes up, rugby, and making good decisions.”