Saints will 'stay true to the roots that got us there' as they select team for cup semi-final

The black, green and gold will travel to the Gtech Community Stadium to face London Irish in the shootout for a place in next month's showpiece.

But rather than selecting all of their regular Gallagher Premiership starters, the Saints coaches want to keep faith with the men who did so well during the pool stages.

"The competition allows you to pick anyone at this stage now and there's no stipulation that you have to have played in the pool stages so you can pick a full first-team 15," said Saints assistant coach Matt Ferguson.

"But we're going to stay very true to the roots that have got us there and we've already used the competition for different reasons.

"We had Dave Ribbans returning from injury in this competition, and he's now in and around an England squad.

"It was Henry Pollock's first taste of rugby and our balance between those returning senior players that need game time like the Brandon Nansens, the Ehren Painters, all those players we've drip-fed through the PRC, alongside the younger boys is something we'll carry through for as long as this run takes us."

Saints had last weekend off as it was a league-wide bye weekend in the Premiership.

They return to league action with a home game against Sale Sharks on February 18 and know they must make sure their key men are ready to go for that crucial clash.

"There's a balance with what we can do in our training week and how we can keep people fresh but also firing," Ferguson said.

"The run-in now is going to be crucial and one of the things Dows (Saints boss Phil Dowson) said to the group on Monday morning was that this is the most crucial game of the season, not because it's a semi-final but because it's just the next game.

"It's a great message and one I've definitely been pushing to the group for the rest of the week because whoever's playing, it's the next time Saints go out and play and we need to go out and keep the momentum."