Christmas break comes at the right time for Saints

The black, green and gold will get a welcome break during the festive period as they do not play in the Gallagher Premiership until January 1.

It means Saints have time to wind down after getting wound up in their frustration-filled 17-6 defeat to Munster at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens last Sunday.

Ludlam gave his all, as ever, in that game, with his anger boiling over at one point as he and several of his team-mates engaged in an old-school off-the-ball scrap with the opposition.

And the skipper knows he now needs a calm Christmas as he looks to lower his heart rate ahead of the huge challenges to come.

"I'll be resting, eating, getting the body right and getting ready to go again because we're not performing how we want to be as a team," Ludlam said, when asked what his Christmas plans are.

"We've got a good chance to reset, a natural break at the end of the year to go into January in a new year fired up for that second half of the season.

"It's a great opportunity because we're never going to get that opportunity again to have a Christmas off with the family.

"We can get home for Christmas and spend time with the people we do this for so it's important we really decompress this week, relax, switch off from rugby and really come into January ready to go."

But you somehow feel Ludlam will have one eye on that New Year's Day showdown with Quins even during his Christmas dinner.

"I'm trying to pull myself back already because I'm excited for it," he said.

"We love playing at home, this group of boys love playing at home but this is a long season and we don't want to get ourselves geed up too early.

"We've got to decompress and go in all guns blazing against Quins."