Saints set to kick on under boss Boyd in 2019

Luther Burrell believes Saints are moving 'in a very positive direction' as they prepare for a new year under the guidance of boss Chris Boyd.
Saints claimed a superb win against Exeter last weekend (picture: Sharon Lucey)Saints claimed a superb win against Exeter last weekend (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Saints claimed a superb win against Exeter last weekend (picture: Sharon Lucey)

The black, green and gold put a full stop on 2018 in fantastic fashion last Friday night as they beat Gallagher Premiership table-toppers Exeter Chiefs at Franklin's Gardens.

That 31-28 bonus-point success came in front of a full house at Franklin's Gardens and briefly propelled Saints up to fourth in the league standings.

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They did drop down to sixth following the conclusion of the other weekend fixtures, but they are still in a very healthy position as they prepare to start 2019 at Wasps on Sunday.

And Burrell said: "What's happened is that we've gone full circle in 2018. We've come under new management - Chris and Sam (Vesty) and the boys have come in.

"Youthful players have stepped up; you saw Dingers (Fraser Dingwall) come in and put in a performance when Piers (Francis) unfortunately went off.

"The club is moving in a very positive direction.

"We want to cap off what was a very good finish to 2018.

"We won't get carried away but we'll look forward to pushing on in the league in 2019 and for us the main thing now is consistently backing up the Exeter performance."

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Saints will be confident of doing just that against a Wasps side who have lost their past five matches in all competitions.

But Burrell is refusing to believe it will be an easy task for his side to beat the Coventry-based club for the third time in as many matches this season.

"They're a very dangerous team," said the centre.

"We enjoyed the Exeter victory and rocked up into training and hit the ground running.

"We've been doing our homework, we've put the Exeter win to bed and now it's time to focus on Wasps.

"We've been building.

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"We've come out and put in a good performance against Dragons, Romania didn't happen but we came back and played Worcester away and picked up points on the road.

"We came back and put on a big performance against Exeter and although we're not going to get carried away, it was important for us to put in a performance, see off 2018 and progress.

"Hopefully we can build and take some momentum into this week.

"It's going to be a massive game for us over at the Ricoh but we're in a nice position and if we can keep this momentum we know exactly where we can be in the league."