'Great dynamic' among Saints' new-look coaching staff

Ferguson is one of three new coaching arrivals this summer, joining director of rugby Chris Boyd and Sam Vesty at the Gardens.

Those men have linked up with Phil Dowson, who is now forwards coach, and Alan Dickens, who has taken over as defence mentor.

It is a young and ambitious set up complemented by the arrival of Boyd, who switched to Saints full-time last Thursday following the conclusion of his commitments at Super Rugby side the Hurricanes.

And 40-year-old Ferguson, who is helping to beef up the Saints scrum, said: "Coaching is the same as playing really. You don't say a player is young, you judge them on what they do.

"We're happy to be young in age but we're backing our knowledge, our relationships with the boys and it's about what we put out on the pitch.

"We've got a great dynamic between all four of us and Chris coming in adds the final member to the crew so we can push on."

Saints started life under new management with a win last weekend as they saw off Ospreys 26-13 in torrential rain at Brewery Field.

Tries from Ollie Sleightholme, David Ribbans, James Fish and Api Ratuniyarawa got the job done in Bridgend.

And now Saints, who have spent this week based at Swansea University, move on to face the Dragons in Newport on Friday night.

"We've got great guys who are working really hard," Ferguson said.

"We know we're not going to be the finished article yet but what was pleasing on Saturday was that we tried to stick to what we've done, despite Ospreys and the weather conditions.

"If we can get that buy-in from all the boys then we're going to be somewhere near where we want to be.

"The whole point of us coming away for this week is to try our processes.

"We've had a great seven weeks of sunny rugby and we turned out Saturday in the rain to try out our processes and see where we were and how we want to play the game.

"There's a lot to look at on the video and some tweaks to be made, but in terms of lads doing what we asked of them in those conditions, which were pretty atrocious, it was pleasing.

"It's a new group, a new year, we're looking at what's going to come.

"We're in Wales for a week and let's build on this at Dragons on Friday night."