Waller's backing Saints to cope without departing stars

The club has lost several experienced heads, with Waller retiring and key men such as Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam moving to France.

But Saints have a core of Academy products who have already shown their abilities off the field as well as on it.

And Waller feels there is enough experience in the squad for them to be able to replicate this season's Gallagher Premiership title-winning heroics.

"It's going to be interesting to see," Waller said.

"You see in all walks of life when experienced people leave, there's a void and someone will fill it.

"There's a lot of youth in that changing room but also experience and those lads like Dingwall, Furbank, Coles have played 100-plus games for the club and they've been in the system for a while.

"They're not young, up-and-coming players now, they're seasoned professionals and established internationals in their own right.

"You look at the next crop that's coming through, your Mannys (Iyogun) who have still played 50-odd games for the club, played Premiership week in, week out, and they're considered your young boys.

"Then you've got the next crop with the likes of Henry (Pollock). Henry hasn't done it week in, week out in the Premiership yet, but I'm under no illusion that he's going to smash it because you look at his track record of when he played for us against Leicester and made a huge impact.

"I'm under no doubt he can do it. It's about whether he can do it every week, and I like to think he can.

"Then you look at the likes of your Alex Coles, your Furbs and they will be the senior heads now.

"It might take a bit of resettlement, it is a lot of experience and caps to lose in one year, but the train moves forward and the coaching staff and the team is proven.

"We proved we can win the league this year so I'm looking forward to hopefully being at Twickenham next year with a beer in hand and not having to stress too much because it's my last game. I'll just be there as a fan.”