Saints expected to get their mindset right against fired-up Sharks

The Sharks come to town baying for blood as they bid to keep their Gallagher Premiership top-four hopes alive.

Saints' play-off hopes faded weeks ago, leaving them down in seventh in the standings.

But with Sale set to be fired up, Saints know they must be hugely motivated if they are to end their six-match home losing streak this evening.

"Sale are a side built on power and a very direct approach," said attack coach Vesty.

"They are going to come with one thing in mind and that is to be really physical and direct.

"We have got to find a way of playing well from an attack point of view, knowing they're going to be coming hard at us.

"We need to not give them anything to hit and punish them well when we get our opportunities.

"Our motivation has to be about building on a performance with some good elements.

"If we don't come up in the right frame of mind, the fixture will be a very tough one."

Saints dominated for long spells in their most recent outing, the Champions Cup quarter-final at Exeter Chiefs.

But, ultimately, it was another defeat, the 11th in their past 13 matches in all competitions.

"I thought we played really well in that Exeter game for good chunks of it," Vesty said.

"We've got a decent performance there but we need to build on that, and that's our challenge for this week.

"We want to build blocks for the years to come, with a solid foundation, and these two games are key to that.

"We felt like we got some confidence and momentum back so we need to continue that.

"Winning is a habit and so is losing so we need to get back on that horse and the way to do it is to build on the performance at Exeter.

"When you're in a bit of a losing streak, it feels like a win is a long way away but if things start to go our way and we make a few things happen, we'll get back into that winning mentality.

"That will be very important going into the back end of this year."

Saints go to Gloucester on Sunday, but they will still have a lengthy injury list to contend with, with hooker Mike Haywood the latest to be sidelined.

"Mike has struggled with his knee for a little while and we won't have anyone returning yet," Vesty said.

"The games are going to be thick and fast next season but we need to finish this season in a really positive manner and these two games are huge, they're massive for us.

"We have to build our game and get our performances right."

While action continues on the field, fears grow off it.

Rugby is facing financial oblivion with fans unlikely to be allowed back into stadiums until March at the earliest.

But Vesty says he and his fellow Saints coaches can't currently allow themselves to think too much about issues outside of what happens on the field.

"We've got to focus on what's important to us on the pitch, and that's what our job is," he said.

"Obviously we keep an eye on some of the other bits but we can't let it take our mind off what the job is and we have to keep our eye on the ball.

"It's the way we can help the organisation."