Saints are eager to secure top spot, says centre Dingwall

The black, green and gold travel to Bath on Saturday knowing a win would make sure of a first-placed finish.

But defeat could leave the door open for champions Saracens, who host Sale Sharks this weekend, to move above them.

Saints are already certain to have a home play-off semi-final on May 31 as they are guaranteed of a top-two finish following last Saturday's 90-0 evisceration of Gloucester.

But Dingwall says his side would like to finish top of the table for the first time since 2015.

"Getting a home semi-final is what we set out to do at the start of the year and it's what gives you the best chance of progressing," Dingwall said.

"We've secured it now and we turn our focus to Bath this week then we'll fly into the play-offs.

"We'll be going down there to get a win because we want to finish top of the table."

Saints held a leavers ceremony after last weekend's game as the likes of Alex Waller and Courtney Lawes said goodbye to cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

They will still have one more home outing to look forward to, but that will be strictly business as Saints seek a place in the Premiership showpiece.

"It was a lot of fun, a nice way to send off some boys, a fitting tribute to them," Dingwall said.

"There was a lot of pain after the Leinster game and a lot of that was probably put on the pitch last weekend.

"We were fully aware of what we wanted to achieve, and we wanted to have a ruthless mentality.

"You saw that the boys just wanted to chuck all their emotion out on the pitch from the previous week so it was a lot of fun.

"There were a lot of opportunities and we pretty much took all of them so it was pretty cool being out there.

"It shows the growth in this group because last year we probably would have tried to force things but actually that whole game just looked like what our game looks like and what we're trying to achieve the whole time.

"That was the most pleasing thing about it, the ruthless side of it."

With Lawes, Waller and Co leaving Saints this summer, the younger generation are ready to step up again next season.

Dingwall said: "It's funny because before the game last weekend, me and Ferg (Saints assistant coach Matt Ferguson) were looking at the big board in the changing room where we have a list of players, and the people we're losing elevates Mitch (Alex Mitchell) and Hutch (Rory Hutchinson) up to the top two in terms of experience.

"There's lot of old heads above us who we're losing.

"When Sue (Alex Waller) went off, you could see the emotion in this place and on his face, and these are people I grew up supporting and people who have always been at the club.

"Saying goodbye to them in that manner is really nice.

"They're legends of this club.

"It's been really cool how we've had that transition with the group that Boydy (Chris Boyd) brought through, and the same with the coaching group, and they are progressing into being this club.

"It's no longer just the club of the boys who are moving on, from next year it will be our club so we've had a really good transition."