Saints forward Graham happy to be unpopular as he seeks win against Bath
Sam Graham will happily make himself unpopular in his friendship group if it means helping Saints to beat Bath on Saturday evening (kick-off 5.30pm).
The back row forward has plenty of Bath-supporting friends as he hails from the city.
But his loyalties lie firmly with Saints as he aims to help them back up last Saturday’s superb 35-28 success at Exeter Chiefs by seeing off the side currently sitting second in the Gallagher PREM table.
“It adds an extra element for me because it’s my hometown and that for me is always a big game, and I’m sure it will be again on Saturday,” Graham said.
“I go back home and I’m a bit unpopular, but I love that.
“If I’m unpopular after playing against Bath, then I know I’ll have done my job.”
Saturday will be the third time this season that Saints have squared up to Bath, beating them 41-21 in the league game at The Rec back in December before suffering late agony against them in the Investec Champions Cup quarter-final earlier this month.
“It’s what you want: two of the best teams in England to be having that rivalry,” Graham said.
“Every time we play them it feels like a big occasion.”
He added: “When you think about it, it’s 1-1 (in results this season).
“It’s a massive opportunity for us to try to back up what we did (at Exeter) last weekend.
“They (Bath) are a very good team, widely regarded as being one of the best teams in the league, and deservedly so, if not Europe.
“We went toe-to-toe with them at their place and this weekend is a real opportunity for us to right some wrongs from a couple of weeks ago.”
Graham didn’t get to play for Saints in the Champions Cup knockout stages due to injury.
But he is now looking forward to playing his part against Bath on Saturday.
“You have to move on pretty quickly (from the loss at Bath in Europe), but I just think there’s so much excitement for this week,” he said.
“It’s that stage of the season now where every game feels like a Test match.
“I’ve never been an international in a Test match, but it feels like there’s a step up in intensity and that’s exactly what we want this part of the season to feel like.
“I think that’s something we’re really beginning to thrive on as a group, so I can’t wait for Saturday.
“It (the defeat at Bath) is fresh in our minds, isn’t it? It’s a pretty rare situation where you end up playing the same team so close together and the best thing is the prep is very similar.
“Exeter are a very similar team and we managed to right some wrongs, and hopefully we can carry that forward into this week.”