As the new Gallagher Premiership season about to kick off, Alex Coles understands that Saints will need to adjust to handling shorter turnaround times.
After losing to the Sale Sharks on Sunday, the black, green, and gold have only six days between their opening two games when they play Bristol Bears on Saturday.
The Bears, on the other hand, will receive nearly two more days off after defeating the Leicester Tigers last Friday.
However, Saints will have to get used to going six days without a game when they play Newcastle Falcons on a Sunday later this month before hosting Bath on a Saturday.
Later in November, the same scenario is repeated when Phil Dowson’s team hosts Exeter Chiefs on November 12 and then travels to Leicester for a significant local rivalry on November 18.
There’s a Friday night home game against the Harlequins after that Tigers match.
Coles, though, is sure the Saints have the mechanisms in place to handle it.
“It’s something that we’ve got to make sure we learn how to do well,” he stated. “The schedule has a couple of these coming up over the next several weeks.
It concerns how we may ensure that, while avoiding burnout, we complete all necessary preparation and training.
“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.”
Last Sunday, Coles put on an all-action display against Sale, supporting assaults nonstop and setting up a try for James Ramm in the second half. He showed little symptoms of weariness.
“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 stated. “It comes off occasionally and you have the ball in your hands, and other times it doesn’t.
Since I believe it to be a strength of mine, I’ll keep trying.
“I will continue to attempt to get on the end of those half-breaks when we have them.
“It came off a few times last weekend.”
Coles claims that a difficult conclusion to the previous season “fueled the fire” for him at the beginning of this one.
He gained notoriety with England last autumn, gaining three caps, but towards the end of the season, he was left off the Saints roster as he dropped down the hierarchy.
Coles has come into his own this season, but form is fleeting and class is eternal.
The 24-year-old said, “I’m really excited.”
“It was challenging towards the end of the previous season because, after returning from England, I took a few hits and eventually kind of fell off the team—exactly when you wanted to be playing deep into the playoffs.”
“I found that difficult, but we’ve had a little vacation and an extended preseason leading up to this point, so I’ve just been trying to keep the fire going the entire time, anticipating the Premiership to begin.”
“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 uses a flowing style, just like Saints.
Coles said, “It puts different strains on you than, say, a Sale.
It should be a fun match since we like playing just as much as they do and I believe we are well matched.
We often talk about how Franklin’s Gardens needs to be a stronghold, and a big part of it is due to the support we receive here, which is, in my opinion, unequalled in the league.
“We are aware that success here is essential.
“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.”
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