Restart gives Saints a real title shot

It wasn’t exactly the most detailed and it wasn’t accompanied by much glitz and glamour.

There was no press session at the top of the BT Tower, as is usually the case at the start of a campaign, and there was no plethora of interviews from players and coaches.

But what there was a huge supply of was hope.

Hope that the game is finally starting to click into gear.

Hope that players and teams can put on a show, to bring a fresh focus after some dark days caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

There are still many hurdles to clear, but the line is in sight.

And for Saints, that line is Sunday, August 16, when they are set to resume their Gallagher Premiership campaign against Wasps at what will be an empty Franklin’s Gardens.

It will not have the typical atmosphere of a Gardens game.

But what it will have is two teams gunning for Premiership points.

A prospect that seemed and proved to be so far off when rugby was halted way back in March.

And while the demands on the players will undoubtedly be great, it will be so good for fans to have their sport back, even if it is just on television for now.

It will take time for teams to get back up to speed after an unprecedented break from the game.

But when they do, a feast of rugby can be expected in unusual conditions.

Often, teams only get to sample the sun on their backs for a month at the start and end of the season.

The frost soon bites and the approach needed to win matches often alters.

But with so many games in August and September, it could be that style and swagger rather than pure steel wins the day.

Of course, teams will get nowhere without forward substance.

But teams like Saints and Bristol Bears will be licking their lips at the prospect of harder pitches and less forward-orientated affairs, as outlined by Chris Boyd.

“Once the boys walk across the white line they will rip in,” Boyd said.

“It will be interesting to see if the harder grounds and the warmer weather has an impact on the way the game gets played.

“I think everyone will play their own game so those who tend to be more physical will continue like that, and those who play an expansive game will continue to do that.

“It’s not going to be January in Bath, where you’re knee-deep in mud, so we are going to be able to play over the top of the ground.

“It will be competitive and it will be hard and fast.

“There’s nine rounds to play and because there’s a short window between the end of this season and potentially the start of next, as teams find they haven’t got anything more to play for - they can’t make the top six or they can’t make the top four or whatever they can’t do - I think their focus may switch into other things.

“Obviously there’s no relegation threat for anyone for the end of this year so that takes quite a lot of pressure off the bottom of the league.

“I think it will be good.”

What will also be good is being given the chance to see who has assembled the strongest squad for next season.

Because although this is still technically the 2019/20 campaign, it will be concluded with next season’s playing groups.

It is a strange prospect and probably a sizeable argument in favour of why this season should have been shelved for good.

But for players such as Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi and Nick Auterac, they are swapping life at clubs outside the top four for one in it.

And they will get plenty of game time in the title push, with squads about to be pushed to the limit.

Saints look set to play a game almost every four days in a schedule that looks surreal.

There are likely to be three midweek matches for the men in black, green and gold - the first one definitely coming against Bath on Wednesday, August 26.

It means every member of the playing squad at Franklin’s Gardens will be needed.

And the thing that Saints have in their favour is the sheer belief that boss Boyd has instilled.

He has given opportunities to so many players that they now feel trusted in the top-flight.

Whoever comes in, they play the Saints way.

And the injury crisis that blighted the team just before this campaign closed down for a few months could actually prove a positive.

It meant that someone like Alex Coles, who was supposed to be enjoying a development season, was forced to play week in, week out.

And he will have learned so much from those experiences.

Coles showed his class, and it has been a theme that young players have been parachuted into the first team and not looked out of place.

That comes from the confidence given to them by the coaches.

Saints have assembled a young, hungry squad with so many points to prove.

Players proving they can realise their potential has become a constant.

And the signings they have made - the likes of Hobbs-Awoyemi, Auterac and Doncaster scrum-half Tom James - all have that in common.

No, there will be no Cobus Reinach.

But there will be Nick Isiekwe.

And there will be fresh and firing players, like Piers Francis, who wouldn’t have been able to play a part had the season ended as it should.

The weather suits Saints’ Super Rugby style.

And if they can put on a show while delivering results, who says they can’t put a big trophy in the Gardens cabinet during what has been a tough 2020 for everyone?

For now though, joy can simply be taken from the fact rugby is finally on its way back.

Saints march on, and they will soon be marching into a ground near you.