Langdon eager to help Saints have enjoyable end to 'strange season'

The England hooker is desperate to drive his team to glory in the Investec Champions Cup, with a home quarter-final against Castres on the agenda this Saturday evening.

Saints reached the semi-finals last season, eventually suffering a narrow defeat to Leinster at Croke Park.

And the Irish giants could again lie in wait if Saints win this weekend, as Leinster are huge favourites to beat Glasgow Warriors in Dublin on Friday night.

Langdon has belief in the black, green and gold though, and he wants to make more special European memories in a campaign that has been hugely fragmented for Saints.

They currently sit eighth in the Gallagher Premiership as their title defence has been hit by a huge amount of injuries and absences.

But with key players having returned, Langdon is in optimistic mood.

"It has been a strange season but I've still enjoyed it," he said.

"We've had some great results, but we've just not been as consistent as we'd have liked to have been so far - and that's what we're searching for now.

"If we can get some consistency, we can have an enjoyable end to the season.

"I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I'm just excited to get back out there with the boys.

"If we can put our game on the pitch this week, we get another opportunity in a knockout game, whether it be at Milton Keynes against Glasgow or in Dublin against Leinster. Those are the type of games you want to play in.

"We were lucky enough to experience it last year and I definitely want to go even further this year and really give it a good go."

Saints were back to their fluent best last Friday as they ran Clermont Auvergne ragged in a 46-24 success at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

And Langdon said: "It was very enjoyable.

"There was a lot of excitement going into that game after the tough loss at Sale. We were happy with that performance but we obviously didn't get the win that we wanted.

"Going into the Clermont game, putting in a good performance and getting the win - there was a good buzz after that one.

"We're getting better week on week and that's what we want to do.

"You'd expect us to get better week after week and we want to get a bit of momentum, back up wins and just take every game as it comes and try to put our game on the field.

"If we do that, hopefully it can be a good run to the end of the season."

Langdon bagged the bonus-point try when Saints beat Castres 38-8 at the Gardens back in December.

But he knows the French side will present a different challenge in the quarter-final clash this weekend.

"We've obviously played them in the pools but there were only two players who started in that game who started against Benetton last week so we're under no illusions that it's going to be a completely different Castres team this week," Langdon said.

"But we've prepared well, we've looked at their game against Benetton, we've looked at some of their other fixtures they've played recently so we're just excited to get out there again this week."