Myler urges Saints to take another step towards top four

Jim Mallinder’s men have won back-to-back games during the transition from 2016 to 2017, with Sale Sharks and Gloucester both beaten.

Last Sunday’s 13-12 success at Kingsholm was secured by a battling display and a late Myler conversion.

And the fly-half is now relishing the chance to take on a Bristol side who have also had a resurgence of late, winning against Worcester and Sale in the past two weeks.

“It will be a tough test,” said Myler, who made his 300th Saints appearance last weekend.

“Bristol have got a couple of wins in succession, like ourselves, so we need to take confidence from what we’ve done in the past couple of weeks and really put our marker down when Bristol come to our place.

“It’s another opportunity for us to push on back towards the top four.

“It’s exciting and we’re looking forward to it.”

A late penalty try proved crucial at Kingsholm on New Year’s Day as Saints stepped into the Aviva Premiership top six.

And Myler said: “It was one of those games where we saw the weather when we woke up and we got to the ground and saw the pitch, and we knew it wasn’t going to get any better.

“You just knew it was one of those days you were going to have to grind it out and somehow find a way to win.

“We didn’t panic at half-time. We were down (9-0) on the scoreboard but we knew conditions and the slope were going to favour us.

“We needed to play slightly better and I think we did that. We got our rewards.”