Forwards coach Dorian West says that the key to the Saints' success this weekend in Bristol will be their ability to execute their game plan and keep the scoreboard ticking over.
An opening day loss to Bath proved a mixed bag, with the visitors' ability to take the points on offer proving telling, even despite a late rally from the Saints.
“We’re really frustrated with last weekend to be honest.” West said on this week's podcast.
“I think a lot of the things we talked about doing we did but then we lacked that crucial bit of execution in the last third of the pitch to score points. Bath kept the scoreboard ticking over with a couple of mistakes from us and before we knew it they’d got a decent lead which they managed to protect.
“We scored some points at the end but we just left it too late and gave ourselves too much to do. I think some of our discipline, some of our execution needs to be better and we’ve worked hard on that this week. I’ve no doubt we’ll be better.”
Going into Sunday's game, West says keeping the discipline tight is something the side has been working hard on and that they are preparing for a tough encounter, being the first Premiership ground to enter Ashton Gate in some seven years.
“We’re going to Bristol who will be bang up for it, playing on their own pitch for the first time this season. We’ve worked hard this week and we’re pleased with what we’ve done.
“We need to be better than we were last week. We need to execute better, we need to put Bristol under pressure and get the scoreboard moving ourselves much the same as Bath did last week.
“We’re expecting a tough encounter; they’ve got a lot of experience, a lot of players that have played here and know what we’re about so it’s not going to be easy. But we’re pleased with what we’ve done this week and we’ve given ourselves the best chance of going there and getting the result.”
