Lawes: Quins should be worried about Saints

The gargantuan forward and his team-mates have been buoyed by last weekend’s Heineken Cup win at Ulster.

They defied the odds to claim a 10-9 victory at Ravenhill and enjoy a welcome injection of confidence ahead of their return to league action.

The next three weeks see Saints face three of the Premiership’s top six, in Quins, Saracens and Exeter.

First up are English champions Quins at the Gardens, and Lawes wants another big performance like the one in Belfast last time out.

“We’re aiming for that consistency, that intensity and that strategy, being able to execute it as we did,” said the England star.

“Harlequins are pretty good. They’re a very well drilled outfit and they pull a lot of things out the bag so we’re going to have to keep an eye on them and look out for something new.

“But we think new can bring our game to them and see if they can deal with it.”

Saints will have added motivation for this weekend’s meeting, as they lost to Quins in the Premiership play-off semi-final last season.

It was an agonising day at The Stoop as Northampton surrendered an eight-point lead during the final stages of the game to lose 25-23.

“We had a lot of players injured at the time and it certainly wasn’t our best team but we still did well and were very unlucky to come away with a loss,” said Lawes.

“It goes to show that we can turn up and put in a good performance against these.”