'A pretty poor statement' - Kayser criticises Saints chief's selection plan

Boyd was speaking after the agonising 16-12 Champions Cup opening night defeat to Bordeaux-Bègles at Franklin's Gardens.

And when asked what his approach to facing Leinster in Dublin will be, Boyd said: "I'm not worried about the Premiership for now but with the way this new European structure is with pools of three, particularly when you're on the back end of the seeding like we were, seeded against Bordeaux and Leinster, I think you've got to win three games out of four to hope to go through.

"So we'll probably change tack and give some youngsters a run next week and give some boys a rest."

Former France international Kayser was at the Gardens working for BT and he was not happy with suggestions Saints won't be going with a full strength side to the RDS Arena next weekend.

"For one, it's pretty sad to see that after round one he's basically decided to give up on it," Kayser said.

"I think that is a pretty poor statement."

However, Saints already face an uphill task as they have trips to Leinster and Bordeaux to come, with a home game against the Irish giants sandwiched between those fixtures.

They also have crucial Premiership matches against Worcester Warriors, London Irish and Leicester Tigers to negotiate during Christmas and the new year.

But Kayser wasn't too impressed with Saints' showing, even though they led for most of Friday's game.

"You sort of saw it coming because Bordeaux were winning the collisions, they were accurate and good in lineout defence so they prevented Northampton from getting any momentum," the retired forward said.

"They were never really in this game. Yes, they were dominant, yes, they were ahead on the scoreboard, but you were just waiting for Bordeaux to do something.

"Bordeaux were winning those hits and although I don't think they played particularly well either, you have to be there.

"Rugby is about hunger, it's about passion, it's about who wants it the most and when you hit the post and you see four guys who look to the sky and there's one tiny guy (Santiago Cordero) on this field who tackled a human piano (Taqele Naiyaravoro) the whole night, it means they were hungrier and it means they wanted it more.

"Is it down to confidence? I don't know. I think it's down to hunger."