Coles confident Saints can avoid burnout as they tackle tighter turnarounds

The black, green and gold have just six days between their opening two fixtures as they host Bristol Bears on Saturday having lost at Sale Sharks on Sunday.

In contrast, the Bears will get almost an extra two days' rest after they beat Leicester Tigers last Friday.

But Saints will have to get used to having six days between matches as later this month they go to Newcastle Falcons on a Sunday before returning home to face Bath on the following Saturday.

The same thing happens again later in November as Phil Dowson's men host Exeter Chiefs on November 12 before going to local rivals Leicester for a big local derby on Novermber 18.

That Tigers battle is then followed by a Friday night home game against Harlequins.

But Coles is confident Saints have the systems in place to cope.

"It's something that we've got to make sure we learn how to do well," he said. "We've got a few of them coming up over the next few weeks with the schedule.

"It's about how we make sure we get all the planning and training in that we need while not burning out.

"We've got a great team here of sports scientists, strength and conditioning staff and the rugby coaches who will make sure the schedule isn't going to have us burned out by the weekend because we want to be firing with that same sort of energy we had in the Sale game."

Coles showed few signs of fatigue last Sunday as he produced an all-action performance against Sale, constantly supporting attacks and setting up a second-half try for James Ramm.

"I always just try to get involved as much as possible and try to gamble a little bit on some of the support lines," Coles said. "Sometimes it comes off and you end up with the ball in your hands and sometimes it doesn't.

"I'll keep trying to do it because I feel like it's a strength of my game.

"When we make those half-breaks, I'll keep trying to get on the end of them.

"It came off a few times last weekend."

Coles says a tough end to last season has 'fuelled the fire' for him at the start of this campaign.

He shot to prominence with England last autumn, winning three caps, but found himself out of the Saints team towards the end of the campaign after falling down the pecking order.

But form is temporary and class is permanent, with Coles hitting the ground running this season.

"I'm really excited," the 24-year-old said.

"It was a difficult one at the end of last year because I came back from England, had a few knocks and then kind of dropped out of the team towards the end of the year, just when you want to be in and amongst it at play-off time.

"I found that tough, but we've had a bit of a break and a really long pre-season building up to now so I've just been trying to fuel that fire the whole time, looking forward to the start of the Premiership.

"It was gutting we couldn't do it against Sale but the first home game against Bristol this weekend is a really good opportunity to get our first win in the Premiership."

Bristol, like Saints, employ a free-flowing style.

And Coles said: "It certainly puts different stresses on you to someone like a Sale.

"I think we're well matched with them and we like to play just as much as they do so it will be a good encounter.

"We always speak about Franklin's Gardens having to be a fortress and a lot of that is down to the support we get here, which is pretty unmatched across the league I'd say.

"We know it's a must, winning here.

"We feel confident here, we feel good here and the thing we've got to pick up from last season is that away form to try to add on the back of that to make sure we're even higher up the table."