Saints able to recharge the batteries ahead of Tigers tussle

Many have jetted abroad to soak up the sun as they look to recharge the batteries ahead of the huge derby-day clash with Leicester Tigers on Friday, February 11.

This weekend is the second of Saints' two Gallagher Premiership bye weeks, which have been penciled in since the start of the season.

And that means players and coaches have been able to book holidays, safe in the knowledge that they would definitely be able to spend this week away.

It comes at a very good time for Saints, who have been involved in an extremely testing couple of months at home and abroad.

They have been playing Premiership and Champions Cup matches since November, with the only weekend off an enforced one due to the Covid outbreak that cancelled the clash with Racing 92 on January 23.

And after the bonus-point win at Worcester, boss Chris Boyd said: "Everyone gets the whole of this week off.

"There are people flying all over the place tonight and tomorrow (last Saturday night and Sunday).

"It's a well deserved rest.

"We've had 10 weeks on the bounce although we had the week we missed at Racing because of Covid intervention.

"Most of the boys will be getting away."

While Leicester will be in action this weekend - they host Worcester on Saturday - Saints are able to put their feet up.

And they will hope that the rest does them good when it comes to derby day next week.

"We've already started plotting that with the coaches," Boyd said.

"We'll come in on Monday for a short turnaround up at Leicester on the Friday night."

While the majority of the Saints squad are off this week, their Six Nations stars are most definitely not.

Dan Biggar is now back in the Wales camp as he prepares to skipper his nation against Ireland on Saturday.

Rory Hutchinson is with Scotland ahead of their clash with England on Saturday, with Lewis Ludlam, Courtney Lawes and George Furbank all in the mix for that game.

But Lawes is a doubt having gone through head injury protocols, while Tommy Freeman is unavailable after suffering a hamstring injury in training last Friday.