Saints Q&A: Tom Vickers talks to lock Tom Lockett

And now he's looking forward to one more regular-season match before Saints get stuck into their Gallagher PREM play-off bid.

We caught up with the lofty lock this week to discuss Saturday's final-day trip to Harlequins, as well as numerous other things.

The full question and answer session is here...

Q: How's the mood going into the Harlequins game this week?

A: "We're off the back of some good results and obviously confirming top of the table is massive for us but we want to keep the ball rolling, we don't want to stop there.

"It would be great to go into knockout games off the back of another good performance."

Q: You don't get a trophy for it, but does it mean a lot to the players to have finished top of the PREM table for only the third time in Saints' history?

A: "Definitely.

"Also, statistically it probably puts you in a slightly stronger position when you get into those knockout games.

"It means you get a home semi-final and you play fourth place, but we're not thinking about that at the moment.

"We've put ourselves in a good position and we just want to keep the ball rolling."

Q: Are you glad to be avoiding the chaos that is set to unfold elsewhere this weekend, with other teams jostling for position?

A: "We were trying to work it our earlier and it seems like anything can happen.

"We've had a pretty consistent season with some great away form so we've escaped that."

Q: You did that thanks to the win against Gloucester last weekend. How good was it to get over the line when it mattered?

A: "The two things that have probably been a bit different about this season is that we've come out on the right side of the tight games and our away form has been excellent.

"The away form especially was something we went after in pre-season so that's something we're really happy with."

Q: Why do you think you've been able to come out on the right side of so many tight games?

A: "It's a bit of everything.

"Fitness is a key aspect and we always say there's no team that trains like we do and has that competitive level from the non-playing group as well.

"Also, the mindset of having been there before, having the confidence in the system and the man next to you, that we can come back from anything and win in any situation.

"That confidence is pretty useful when it comes to tight games and you're up against it."

Q: How much can you take from your previous experiences of big games at this stage of the season?

A: "We're enjoying it.

"We're enjoying performing, we're enjoying winning, we're enjoying finding areas in our game that need improvement.

"Even though we've still been winning, there's tons of areas we can improve and put in a more complete performance than we have been. That's exciting.

"We've been at a consistently very good level and the fact we feel there's a lot more in us is pretty exciting and hopefully over the next few weeks we can show that."

Q: So it's not difficult to focus on this weekend's game despite knowing what's coming six days later?

A: "No. We spoke about this last year when we played Exeter in the build-up to the Champions Cup final and if you look too far ahead, you'll get punched in the face by something that's right in front of you.

"We need to keep momentum, we need to keep the ball rolling and also the mood in camp if you come in Monday morning off the back of a really strong away performance going into a semi-final, that will be a huge energy-giver for us.

"It's night and day, the mood when you come in off the back of a loss compared to when you come in after a good performance."

Q: What have the past few years taught you as a young player about how to prepare for these big moments in seasons?

A: "It's just the experience of having been there as a group and we all take a lot from each other.

"I've learned loads from Colesy (Alex Coles) in that aspect and all the England boys who have been in those high pressure situations. They all speak really well about it.

"We're very clear about what we're going after week to week and day to day.

"It's something everyone is very clear on so it doesn't really matter what the pressure is, who we're playing or where we're playing because we're very aligned and very clear on the way we want to play."

Q: How are you doing now because you were obviously supposed to play in that Leicester game on May 9 but had to withdraw before kick-off in that one?

A: "I had a bit of floating bone in my ankle that kept getting trapped and that flared up in the warm-up against Leicester, which was obviously pretty gutting to drop out of that one because with it being a derby it was one we were so excited for.

"Luckily, when that all settled down, I could get back into running and playing and hopefully no issues now going forward for the rest of the season."

Q: Is it something you're just having to manage?

A: "Yeah, you can get rid of it but at the moment I'm not in a position where I feel like I need to.

"Once the inflammation went down, I'm not getting any awareness of it and I can play through it.

"At the time in the Leicester game, it just got trapped so it was very sore and I couldn't really run.

"It was a smart decision to not force it in that game."

Q: So it's Quins next up. What do you make to them this season?

A: "Quins have always notoriously been dangerous. They will score from anywhere and they were difficult to beat against Saracens last weekend.

"They've got some unbelievable players in that group so we'll have to be on it.

"We're not taking it for granted at all and we know we're going to have to be on it to beat this Quins team.

"It's a challenge we're all excited for.

"We love going away from home and we get a real buzz around our away games so we're massively excited for that.

"Hopefully it will be a good day."