Saints Q&A: Tom Vickers talks to Curtis Langdon and Danilo Fischetti

Consequently, rather than conducting separate interviews, they actually sat side by side and answered the questions that came their way ahead of Friday night’s huge Investec Champions Cup quarter-final at Bath.

A typically lively duo on the field, they are little different off it, happily responding to the inquisitions from this publication.

Here is the question and answer session with England hooker Langdon and Italy loosehead prop Fischetti in full…

Q: Curtis, let’s start with you… how much are you looking forward to the game on Friday night?

CL: "I'm really looking forward to it. It's a Champions Cup quarter-final, a top-of-the-league clash. I know it's in Europe but obviously we're competing on both fronts and we really want to get an opportunity to get to the semi-final, final and go one step further this year.”

Q: I spoke to you about your recovery from injury recently and I suppose these are the games you were looking forward to when you were going through that long process?

CL: "Definitely. It's an exciting time of the season.

"The lads earned the right to play in these games before Christmas and I was obviously watching them do a great job.

"When you have those dark days in rehab, you're thinking about the potential to play in these games and how good they are to play in.

"From a personal point of view, I've probably taken a while to recover from my first couple of games back after having seven months of not playing, whereas now I feel I've got into the groove of it, my body is recovering a bit quicker and I feel I've got into a good place for Friday so I'm just really excited for it."

Q: Knockout games are always special and Saints have put in some good performances away from home in Europe in recent years…

CL: "Definitely. In the past couple of years, we've turned up in these big games and we've made them days to remember so we'll be looking to do the same thing on Friday.

"We've obviously had some great battles against Bath over the past couple of years and we obviously had that one just after Christmas where we got the win so we're expecting Bath to come out strong because they're a great side and we know they will really turn up and want to get the win on Friday after what happened after Christmas.

"But we've just focused this week on putting the best version of our game on the pitch, making sure we get our performance right and we believe if we do that, we'll come away with the right result."

Q: Where did you watch the game when Saints beat Bath on December 27?

CL: "I remember it really well actually. Because I was injured, I had a bit of a longer time at home for Christmas, which was nice because I hadn't had that for a while.

"I'd gone back to Weston-super-Mare, my hometown, then gone up to Manchester for the weekend and my mum and dad and my brother came up. I had my girlfriend's family all come round and we were just sat in the lounge watching it, all shouting at the TV.

"It was a great Christmas and that was probably the highlight of it.

"The boys had to go down there after what was a different week because it was Christmas and they put together such a good performance and came away with the win."

Q: Danilo, you didn't get to play in that Bath game either so where did you watch it?

DF: "I was in Italy. I watched the game with my family and we were screaming at the TV as well.

"We expected a tough game and when we saw the scoreline, I said 'oh my God'."

Q: What have your team-mates told you about playing at The Rec?

DF: "They told me about Bath and I can't wait for that.

"It's a knockout game, first time in my career so it's going to be a good Friday but a tough game."

Q: How many Saints knockout games had you watched before you joined the club last summer?

DF: "After I signed, I started to obviously watch every game and I remember the one against Castres here last season. That was unbelievable.

"And I saw the one they won against Leinster."

Q: How much were you looking forward to playing in these games yourself?

DF: "Obviously you expect to play these games but you need to give yourself a chance to be in these games as a team and personally."

Q: You got to play in a knockout game for Saints last weekend and you also scored so how was that for you?

DF: "It was obviously very good.

"I'm always happy when I score but the first thing is that the team wins and we knew if we won we would go forward."

Q: That Castres game was a crazy one, wasn't it?

DF: "Yeah, 49-41, and when I went off and we scored two or three tries, I said 'we're fine, we're good' and then when they came back I was saying 'oh my God'."

Q: Did it feel different playing a knockout game rather than a regular league game?

DF: "Yeah, the pressure is very different.

"It's a bit on you personally and the team as well.

"Now we know we need to go to Bath away and it's very different."