Saints star Naiyaravoro: I've been playing it too safe

Taqele Naiyaravoro admits Saints' difficult run of form has held him back.
Taqele NaiyaravoroTaqele Naiyaravoro
Taqele Naiyaravoro

The powerhouse wing was so destructive during the early part of the season as Saints flew towards the top of the Premiership table and into the Champions Cup quarter-finals.

But the black, green and gold have now won just two of their past 12 matches, with tries far from flowing freely.

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Naiyaravoro has not scored since putting the seal on a fine win at Wasps back on January 5.

And when asked how Saints' form has affected his confidence, the 28-year-old said: "It's a knock-on effect for me.

"We make mistakes and teams feed off that and for me, sometimes I'm not as confident because I know if I make a mistake the opposition will feed off it.

"Maybe I've not been doing what I normally do because I'm trying to do the little things right.

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"Before the lockdown it just went bang, bang, bang and I kept going and getting through.

"Now it's tough because of where we are and the mentality of doing what I normally do drops a bit.

"I've been safe rather than gambling sometimes.

"Most of the times I do stuff in the moment and now I've been mentally pre-planning it.

"Where we have been in terms of form has kind of held me back from doing what I'm capable of doing.

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"I haven't has as much of the ball and I need to get involved earlier because if I can get the ball from kick-off it sets the standards for me.

"I like to get my hands on the ball as much as possible and that's not happening as much, which is tough.

"But that's on me, I need to be looking out for work and taking pressure off the forwards.

"It's stuff like that I'm working on for the rest of this season and next season."

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So what does Naiyaravoro feel has contributed to Saints' barren run of form?

"Honestly, I don't know what the problem is, but maybe it's that we lost momentum during the pandemic," he said.

"Some teams made it work out for them because they were below the top six and now they're in the top four.

"It was positive for some teams and for others, like us, it wasn't.

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"Maybe we've been jumping the gun too much or overdoing things.

"Most of the games we've played, we've gone down to the opposition 22 and then given the ball back. It's something that has seemed to happen every week.

"I don't know if it's just us being too quick for ourselves, being overconfident or not being patient enough when we get to the 22.

"There are a lot of things and for us now, having lost a fair few games, we can't do much about it.

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"We've just got to respect the team, respect ourselves and do the little things properly.

"For us, we've just been missing the little details and giving the ball back to opposition teams, who haven't had to work hard for some of their tries.

"I'm not sure what's caused all that but after losing two or three games, mentally it starts falling down."

Saints will need to pick themselves up this weekend though as they face a formidable challenge.

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Naiyaravoro and Co take on Exeter Chiefs in a Champions Cup quarter-final at Sandy Park.

"I've had the honour of playing there twice and it's an exciting team to test yourself against," Naiyaravoro said.

"They're up there for a reason. They make hard things look very easy and they're a very tough side, but it's something for us to look forward to.

"We want to move on from last week and there is excitement there.

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"We're in the quarter-finals and we want to get down there and do a job on them.

"We just need to try to find our feet and see what happened to us during lockdown.

"Moving forward, getting our confidence back and playing these games that are left with grit and determination is key.

"We want to show respect to ourselves and the jersey.

"It's about giving our best week in, week out and then focusing on the new season."

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Naiyaravoro was up against a friend at Leicester last weekend, with his battle with Nemani Nadolo a real focal point.

Imposing wing Nadolo, who spent a little time in the scrum when his side lost players to the sin bin, eventually won out as Tigers secured a 28-24 win.

And Naiyaravoro said: "Nemzy is a good mate of mine.

"I played against him back when I was in Super Rugby. I was one up on him so now we're drawing.

"I saw him in the scrum and I was screaming at him 'get to the front'."

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Saints have solved their own scrummaging crisis by bringing in Alex Seville on loan from Gloucester.

But Naiyaravoro joked he would be ready to get involved in a shove or two if needed.

"I just told them I'd take a pair of boots with different studs down to Exeter to be in the scrum," he said, laughing.

"I have actually been in the scrum a few times. I just try to push as hard as I can."

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