Wood urges Saints to stop Wasps calling the shots again

And he has urged his team-mates to avoid a repeat of that sobering January night when Dai Young’s men come calling on Saturday.

Wasps raced into a 24-3 lead at the Gardens last season before eventually seeing the game out to secure a comfortable 24-11 Aviva Premiership success.

They also put Saints to the sword in Coventry later in the campaign, earning a 28-6 victory as Jim Mallinder’s men put in a profligate performance.

And Wood knows his side must be much better if they are to get anything out of this weekend’s encounter against a team who have won all three of their league games so far.

“We had a tough time against Wasps last year, things didn’t go our way at all,” the Saints skipper said.

“We were incredibly slow out of the blocks here and they had everything their own way.

“I remember George Smith playing particularly well, their forwards got into us early and caught us napping.

“By the second half, we were playing for pride and trying to salvage a bit of that in a game that had already got away from us.

“And away from home, we weren’t a huge amount better so we’ve got to sort that out this week.

“They had a big win last week so we’re under no illusion as to what the threat is this year.

“Hopefully we can bring the same levels of intensity that we had at Saracens last week and hopefully we’ll have a more refined and tactical approach as well.”