Saints want to cause an upset - warns Young
BEWARE of the party poopers is Wasps director of rugby Dai Young’s message ahead of Northampton Saints’ visit to the Ricoh Arena on Sunday.
The Aviva Premiership encounter is likely to be James Haskell, Danny Cipriani and Guy Thompson’s last at the venue in black and gold before moving on this summer.
Visitors Northampton have suffered a poor campaign to lie tenth in the table – but an unexpected victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road last time out proved their credentials of causing an upset.
“Northampton would love to come and spoil the party,” said Young.
“That will be their motivation all week I am sure. They’ve turned Leicester over only a couple of weeks ago so they are more than capable of doing that.
“We’ve got more to play for than they have, we’ve got a play off, they’re playing for pride.
“But pride is a dangerous animal as we know.
“We’re not underestimating this game.
“We think we will have to be at our best to get the result and we’re really looking forward to a big occasion at the Ricoh.”
The departing trio of Haskell, Cipriani and Thompson will say their goodbyes to the home supporters, while retired flanker Sam Jones is also set to speak at halftime.
“At this time of the season it’s the same for every club, it’s exactly the same, there’s going to be a number of players leaving and a number of players playing their last game,” said Young.
“Some are lucky enough to be on the field, some not. But the best thing is to get a real good result at the weekend an hopefully that will put us one foot in the play-offs.
“It would be a great way to finish to get a result at the Ricoh.
“It would be a bit of a dampener if we didn’t.
“I think everyone realises it’s a big game for us and a game that we need to get right.”
More than 20,000 tickets have been sold for the game to form what could be one of Wasps’ biggest attendances of the season at the Ricoh Arena.