Saints boss Boyd discusses team selection for Bath clash

The black, green and gold won 27-3 against London Irish at the Twickenham Stoop on Saturday, despite resting the likes of Courtney Lawes and Dan Biggar.

Bath picked a strong side for their trip to Welford Road, and it paid off as they cruised to a comfortable 38-16 success against Leicester Tigers.

It means the men from The Rec remain above Saints courtesy of having won one more Gallagher Premiership match this season.

And with another big game in prospect in midweek, Boyd was asked about what kind of side he will select.

"No one can start in three consecutive games so you have to mix and match," Boyd said.

"It will be interesting to see because some teams have gone full strength, some have gone 'bomb squad' and some have gone mixture so as the week evolves it will be interesting to see what we play against.

"We deliberately trained in two fairly even groups for six weeks and with the block of three and then another block of three, we're treating it as a block of six games.

"None of the guys who started on Saturday will be starting on Wednesday. That team (to face Bath) has already been training and we trained it on Saturday morning.

"The poor coaches have their head in about four different things and it's a good challenge."

Saints at London Irish: Furbank; Olowofela (Tuala 56), Proctor, Hutchinson (Bird-Tulloch 73), Collins; Grayson, Mitchell (James 69); van Wyk (Hobbs-Awoyemi 50), Haywood (Marshall 60), Hill (Painter 61); Moon, Isiekwe; Gibson (Uru 73), Ludlam (c), Adendorff (Bean 63).