Coach King says Saints players ‘back on the same page’ ahead of Tigers showdown

Northampton go into Saturday’s east midlands derby against Leicester on the back of two successive defeats.

They lost to Exeter in the LV= Cup final before suffering a 19-6 Premiership defeat at Sale Sharks last weekend.

The game against Sale saw the return of Saints’ Six Nations stars, who, with the exception of Lee Dickson, had not played for their club since the middle of January.

That led to a disjointed performance, but King feels the team is now more together going into this weekend’s clash with Tigers.

“It’s obviously a massive game for the club and for the fans on Saturday,” said the attack coach.

“It’s a massive game in terms of the league table and we’re looking forward to it.

“We’ve had a tough couple of weeks, but it’s very rare you go through a season without having a couple of tough weeks.

“It’s been good to get all the boys back together and out training.

“Last week, we only had one session before we went up to Sale and we didn’t play particularly well.

“It’s good to have everyone back and on the same page and it’s a massive game and we can’t wait for it to start.”

And King feels a game against a Leicester side who have won their past five matches and are pushing for a top-two place is the perfect barometer for second-placed Saints.

He said: “This week’s been really, really important for us, the guys have come in and are really honest about where we need to improve.

“It’s great we’ve got Leicester at home and it will give us a chance to test ourselves and see where we are.”