Head coach Sam Vesty believes the big-match experience Northampton Saints players have gained in recent years will stand them in good stead heading into this weekend’s Investec Champions Cup final.
The men in Black, Green and Gold will participate in their third final in European rugby’s top tier tournament in 25 years on Saturday against Bordeaux-Begles, hoping to emulate the achievements of the Class of 2000 and lift the trophy for a second time.
Saints’ Principality Stadium showdown will be their tenth frontline knock-out fixture in the Gallagher Premiership and in Europe across the past two years. During that period, many stars have also performed on the international stage in high-stakes fixtures, which Vesty sees as a feather in the cap.
“If you look at us playing Leinster last year then going again this year, the shock value is not quite there,” he said. “It’s the same with the Final. These guys have now experienced all of those and some of them have played at the Principality Stadium in front of packed crowds for England.
“Every time you get that little bit more experience of the pressure, or the perceived pressure, that there is in these games, you become more used to it.”
Sam Vesty, Head Coach
For the seventh time in the past two seasons, Saints will meet Top 14 opposition in this tournament. Bordeaux progressed to Cardiff with a clean sweep of seven wins, averaging nearly 49 points per game as they defeated Leicester Tigers, Exeter Chiefs and Hollywoodbets Sharks in the pool stages as well as Ulster – who they then knocked out at the Round of 16 – before seeing off Munster and Stade Toulousain.
“They are a very good team,” Vesty said. “They move the ball well and want to play an open game. Lots of threats. From a defensive point of view, we have got to have a look at what they are doing and then concentrate on what we need to do to counter those. We talk a lot about the actions we need to put in place rather than what they are very good at.
“The boys prepare individually and now collectively as a group. We have had some experiences that we can lean on. We have been there, we have done that, we know what it feels like. Now we can get on with the bit that really matters, in terms of being good on the rugby pitch.”
Despite it being such a high-stakes game, Vesty – who played in the 2009 final for Leicester Tigers against Leinster – stressed preparations remained consistent for the challenge ahead.
“The message is the same as it always is, to be honest, go and put the best version of us out on the pitch and do it as fast as we can, with that right mindset where we take the game to the opposition,” he said. “It is not an extraordinary game, it is an ordinary game played for an extraordinary thing, really. It is focusing on just doing what we do every day.”
