Opportunity knocks as Saints go to Saracens

The black, green and gold will hand rare minutes to a number of players who will be desperate to make a big impression in the Premiership Rugby Cup clash at StoneX Stadium.

And attack coach Vesty said: “It’s a great opportunity for the guys who don’t get a lot of rugby in our squad.

“The guys on the edge of the first team will get a real chance to stake a claim for places and show us and everyone what they can do.

“There’s going to be a couple of young guys from the Under-18s, who were fantastic in their Academy League this year, getting to the final.

“Watching people grow and get better at rugby is certainly my favourite thing and what I love about coaching.

“Watching these guys take their opportunity - it might be their first game or one of their earlier games - is just fantastic.

“Seeing where they’ve come from is great and it’s about seeing how much better they can get and watching that development happen in real time. It’s a real pleasure.

“It’s all about performance and the only way you can control a result is to worry about the performance.

“It’s about us looking at what we do and the group that will be playing won’t have spent an awful lot of time practicing and playing together.

“We’re concentrating on what we want to do well and putting that on the pitch.”

Saracens’ artificial surface has often appeared to suit Saints’ attacking game in the past.

And Vesty said: “The game on synthetic can be pretty loose - there seem to be a few more unfinished tackles.

“If you’re dominant in the set piece it’s a bit easier to keep being dominant.

“You get funny games on synthetic pitches.

“We’re looking forward to going and putting our game on them.

“Our game revolves around being hugely physical and winning the physical battle - and then we’ll play fast off the back of that.”