Saints relish ‘finals vibe’ at Tottenham Stadium

Northampton Saints will treat playing Saracens at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium as if it was a cup final, according to prop Manny Iyogun.

Saturday’s Prem fixture will be the second part of a women and men’s double header, titled Showdown VI, at the 62,850-capacity stadium.

Last week Saracens reported that 40,000 tickets had already been sold for an event which will also see Dizzee Rascal perform live between the two games.

“It’s got a bit of a finals vibe to it and games like this prep you for finals in knockout rugby and that’s exactly how we’re approaching it,” Iyogun told BBC Radio Northampton’s Saints Show.

Saints are two points clear at the top of the Prem table following their narrow, below-their-best win over Newcastle Red Bulls – and have already beaten Saracens twice this season in league and cup.

Iyogun’s team-mate Tom Lockett believes they will be playing at the “best new stadium in the UK”.

“To get a chance to play in it is pretty cool, something we’re all pretty excited for but ultimately we’ve still got to perform as if it’s the Gardens or any stadium,” second row Lockett said.

“We’ll go down on Friday and get a feel for the stadium and then hopefully put that to the back of our mind and go and do the job.

“We’ve got better at that over the years, playing in big environments and finding out what works and what doesn’t work and how we get back on script when things aren’t going to plan.

“Obviously we want to be involved in as many big games as possible so it can only be a good thing [to play there].”

England lock Alex Coles could again be absent because of injury suffered on Six Nations duty so 23-year-old Lockett may again inherit the key role as line-out routines caller.

“Colesy is huge for us not only in terms of how he plays but also how he leads that line-out area,” Lockett added.

“I’ve taken so much from him over the past five or six years. I like to think I’m in a good position now where I’ve got enough experience to take that mantle from him.”

Asked how many different routines Saints have, he replied: “It’s basically a language and you have to be fluent in that language to know all the different moves you could run.

“If you put a number on it, it would be well into the thousands. Colesy’s coming up with new stuff all the time.”

So, are there any Tottenham supporters in the Saints dressing room? Not according to Iyogun.

“It’s a very tough time [to be a Spurs fan] and playing at Tottenham probably wouldn’t be the best experience [if you were],” he said.