Irish flanker Fisher gears up for ‘incredible challenge’ against Saints

Irish have won just once on the road in the Premiership so far this season and are just five points clear of the drop zone.

They can take heart from home wins against the likes of Wasps and Saracens and, importantly, their 39-17 humbling of Saints at the Madejski Stadium in October.

But Fisher knows his side are up against it as they bid to get something from this weekend’s showdown at the Gardens.

“There’s still a massive few games especially at home to come,” Fisher told the Reading Evening Post.

“We’ve shown against the likes of Saracens and Gloucester we can topple the top teams at home, but Northampton are a quality team, and even more so at home, so it’s going to be an incredible challenge this weekend.

“We’ve been through some tough times defensively throughout this year, but we’ve stuck to the basics and now it’s paying off.”

Irish go into Saturday’s game on the back of a 30-19 win home win against Wasps last Sunday.

That victory furthered their bid for Premiership survival, but Fisher knows it’s vital his side back up it up with a win against Saints.

“It’s still very tight,” he said. “Although we’ve won big games at home we haven’t backed them up away so it’s crucially important now to do that.

“We’ve got a massive test against Northampton on Saturday.

“We need to prepare for the game like we did against Wasps and put our best foot forward.”