Boyd using past experiences to help Saints cope with hectic schedule

The black, green and gold have a hectic schedule, starting with Saturday's Gallagher Premiership game against London Irish at the Twickenham Stoop.

They will host Bath four days later before going back to the Stoop to battle Harlequins on August 30.

Coaches will earn their corn as they bid to come up with team selections that can bag three quick wins.

And when asked whether he has ever experienced so many games in such a short amount of time during his career as a coach, former Hurricanes boss Boyd said: "Not in the professional

game, but when I used to coach amateur football in Wellington.

"They used to play three rounds a season on a Wednesday so you'd go Saturday-Wednesday-Saturday three times in a season.

"Some of the lessons we got from that we think will transfer to here, but it's a completely different level.

"You just can't afford to get things wrong for very long because it's such a sprint."

The congested nature of the fixture list means coaches are not only having to prepare for one game at a time, but two.

"We've already done our preparation for London Irish and Bath, particularly at coaching level," Boyd said.

"We've got to keep guys fresh.

"We've got a core of knowledge around how we can play those games and who's best suited to play each game.

"All that organisation is in place already."

For the players though, there will be no looking past London Irish on Saturday.

Irish beat Saints 20-16 in dramatic fashion at Franklin's Gardens back in January.

And Boyd said: "They're physical and they're fast and they're very direct, with good enthusiasm.

"They're a competent team.

"The difference between first and 12th might be a bit of a gulf but the difference between fifth and 10th is not that much and it's a pretty even competition.

"We know they're going to be a handful down there, although as we found here, perhaps you don't get the energy you normally would from having a crowd.

"We'll wait and see and we just know we need to do better than we did last Sunday."

Saints slipped to sixth in the Premiership standings following a disappointing 34-21 defeat to Wasps at the Gardens last weekend.

And having had more time to reflect, Boyd said: "I'm probably angrier again.

"We only had to make 45 tackles in a game, which is unheard of and is about a third of what you normally expect to make.

"They scored four tries and we just conceded incredibly softly to allow them to score their points.

"We knew we'd struggle to get our game going because of rustiness and pressure and stuff so we were possibly a bit guilty of overplaying and being a bit optimistic.

"Collectively, we've taken that on the chin as a group and we have to move on quickly because you can't dwell when it's a 200-metre race."

So just why were Saints so defensively porous last Sunday?

"It's just application of understanding and transferring knowledge into the game," Boyd said.

"That particular move from the scrum they ran when (Josh) Bassett scored the first try, we'd defended that 50 times in training because it's one of their signature moves.

"We just got a combination of people and positioning slightly wrong and they ran it very well.

"It just should never happen.

"Whether that was concentration or just rustiness or whatever, it wasn't good enough.

"They didn't have to work terribly hard for three of their tries and it's completely unacceptable and no good."

While the result wasn't what Saints wanted, it was widely agreed that it was good to be back, having had more than five months without a match due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

"It wasn't on Sunday afternoon obviously but I think generally we'd rather be playing than not," Boyd said.

"We were disappointed with our performance and with our result.

"We didn't deserve any better because that performance was poor, but we'd still rather be trying to figure that out and doing it than sitting at home or doing endless amounts of training.

"I think the standards will go up because most games were pretty rusty at the weekend.

"It's a pretty complex game and if you haven't been able to practice executing skills under pressure it's going to take a bit of time to get used to.

"But you can't wait too long because it's a sprint."

A message from the Editor:

Thank you for reading this story on our website. While I have your attention, I also have an important request to make of you.

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news on this free-to-read site, I am asking you to also please purchase a copy of our newspaper when you do your weekly shop.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspaper.

Thank you