Director of rugby Jim Mallinder says that the Northampton Saints team that travels to Harlequins tomorrow will have to be switched on right from the first whistle.
The Saints opened their Aviva Premiership Rugby campaign with a win over Leicester last Sunday, and while the Saints boss was pleased with the start he said that the trip to the Twickenham Stoop represents a massive challenge for the team.
“Winning at home is always important but getting results away from home is vital if we’re going to finish at the top end of the Premiership table,” he said. “There were many aspects of last Sunday’s performance that were pleasing, especially the first five minutes.
“But we’ll have to do better against a Harlequins outfit that performed well against Wasps. Their team has an experienced backbone, especially at eight, nine and ten, and they have some exciting young talent too.”
The Saints have not won a league match at the Stoop since Mallinder took charge three years ago, even though they won the 2009 European Challenge Cup.
“I don’t know why we’ve had that record there,” Mallinder added. “Harlequins have good facilities and a good surface and you can play rugby. Two years ago we played badly and lost. Last year we played badly and lost, but we got a bonus point, so we’re actually going on an upward trend. Hopefully we can play a lot better this week, because we’ll have to if we’re going to get a win!”
You can watch interviews with Jim Mallinder and Lee Dickson previewing the trip to Harlequins on PremiershipRugby.tv, where you’ll also be able to listen to live commentary and follow all the text tracking on game day.
Saturday’s game is also being shown live on Sky Sports 1 and HD1, with coverage starting from 1pm.
NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY HARLEQUINS
Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 2
Twickenham Stoop
Saturday, September 11th, 2010
Kick off 1:30pm
15 Ben Foden
14 Chris Ashton
13 Jon Clarke
12 James Downey
11 Bruce Reihana
10 Shane Geraghty
9 Lee Dickson
1 Soane Tonga’uiha
2 Dylan Hartley (capt)
3 Brian Mujati
4 Courtney Lawes
5 Christian Day
6 Phil Dowson
7 Tom Wood
8 Roger Wilson
Replacements
16 Brett Sharman
17 Regardt Dreyer
18 Euan Murray
19 Calum Clark
20 Mark Easter
21 Stuart Commins
22 Stephen Myler
23 Joe Ansbro
