Boyd: Saints don't aspire to play like Saracens

Chris Boyd insists Saints are not using Saracens as their template for future success.
Chris Boyd is not planning to play the Saracens way (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)Chris Boyd is not planning to play the Saracens way (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)
Chris Boyd is not planning to play the Saracens way (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

But the Kiwi boss is impressed with the way the current Premiership champions play to their strengths.Saints were beaten 38-27 by Saracens at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday, letting a one-point lead slip inside the final 10 minutes.It was a sixth successive Gardens win for Saracens, who smashed Saints on four occasions last season.But though Boyd knows his team's most recent opposition are very good at what they do, he has no plans to copy their approach."Personally, I don't aspire to the way Saracens play their game, but they are really good at what they do," Boyd said."They aren't a hugely optimistic side in respect of the way they play."They're very clinical, very ruthless, very calculated, they are generally risk averse and they do what they do exceptionally well. They've got the athletes to do that."They're well prepared and well organised and that's why they've been one of the best sides in Europe for the past three or four years."It would be very easy to say being in the game against one of the best sides in Europe with 10 minutes to go was commendable, but it's not because we came away with no points."Saints unleashed Taqele Naiyaravoro on Saturday as the new wing made his debut from the off against Saracens.Naiyaravoro did get the chance to excite the crowd with some trademark carries, but Saints weren't able to get him fully involved in the action during his 57 minutes on the field."T was a little bit rusty and he didn't get a lot of opportunities," Boyd said."There are not a lot of guys who put their hip into Billy Vunipola and come off nicely so we know what he is: he's a big guy, he's powerful, we just need to get him into positions where we can use him slightly better."