Former Osprey Fotuali’i passes on inside knowledge to Saints

Samoan scrum-half Fotuali’i left the Welsh region during the summer, arriving to bolster Northampton’s European bid.

Now Jim Mallinder’s men need to put Ospreys to the sword at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday to ensure that bid stays on track.

And Dickson has revealed the part rival for the No.9 shirt Fotuali’i has played in the preparations for the game.

He said: “We have a lot of video sessions with Kingy (Alex King), Alan (Dickens) and they’ve worked hard this week with Kahn to get a game plan together because obviously Kahn knows a lot of their players.

“They’ll probably change because they know that Kahn’s here, but we’ve got to make sure we’ve got a rough idea of what’s going on and he’s been a massive help this week.”

Saints will be gunning for a third successive home win this season, having already shot down Exeter Chiefs and Sale Sharks in the Premiership.

And Dickson has stressed just how much emphasis has been placed on making sure the Franklin’s Gardens form is first-rate.

“We’ve got to make sure this place is a fortress again,” he said.

“We’ve slipped away these past couple of years with people coming here and getting wins and we’ve got to make sure it’s a fortress.

“The fans have really got behind us in our past two games at home and it’s showed in how we’ve played.

“Kingy’s come in and got us to play an expansive game and we’ve got really powerful forwards and really exciting backs so we can play either way.

“At home we really want to play an expansive game.”

And as well as playing some silky stuff, Dickson also wants his men to show some steel as they bid to stamp their authority on Ospreys.

“In pre-season we talked about making our home our home,” he added.

“People coming here should be worried about coming here.

“We’ve got to make sure we back that up and have that little bit of nastiness at home, really take it to teams and show it’s not going to be an easy ride when you come here.”