Press Notes | Mark McCall Previews Trip to Northampton Saints

Mark McCall spoke to the press this week ahead of a must win trip to Northampton with a space in the Gallagher Premiership play-offs still in the balance.

When asked about the trip to Franklin's Gardens, McCall was conscious of the form Saints hold heading into this fixture.

"It'll be the first time their home fans will be able to see their team since that famous win against Leinster, which is an incredible achievement by them, so you know it's going to be a full house. You can imagine after the team they selected against Exeter their going to go as strong as they can against us, and their strongest team is a very good team."

Speaking on the visitors latest trip to Dublin, McCall identified the big game attitude the Saints have adopted.

"It was a brilliant performance. They really rose to the occasion which is a sign of a really good team. They've obviously been in some big games over the last few years and have gained some valuable experience from them. Now that they have a group that have been together for some time going one step further every season, it's a sign of a team going in the right direction."

When talking about the Men in Black, McCall highlighted the inconsistencies of the squad across this campaign.

"If you look at our season as a whole, we've won nine Premiership games and lost seven which indicates an inconsistent team. The way I look at it, we've played at a very high level at times but the gap between our best performance and worst performance is too big.

That's the challenge, to become a really consistent team and narrow that gap. We've had 16 games before this to learn from, we know what our best is and will need to recreate that on Saturday."