'Slightly frustrated' Saints have 'another couple of gears' as they target improvement

The head coach says the coaches and players have been 'slightly frustrated' with recent performances, despite the fact the black, green and gold have claimed maximum points from each of their past two matches.

Saints claimed an excellent win in France as they defeated Section Paloise 35-27 in their Investec Champions Cup opener before backing that up with a very comfortable 50-5 success at home to Vodacom Bulls last Sunday.

But they know the big battles keep coming as they prepare to host Sale Sharks in the Gallagher PREM on Saturday (kick-off 3pm).

And Vesty said: "We've obviously been doing pretty well in the competitions we're in, but we've got room for growth.

"We're slightly frustrated that we're not playing at our best yet, but it's really exciting that we've got another couple of gears that we can move to.

"On the whole, we're in a good spot.

"We've got some young lads who have come through and done really well, and we've got some people coming back from knocks and injuries to have a real good crack at this next block of games we've got.

"It's a pleasing place to be slightly frustrated from, and as much as there's frustration, it's exciting because I know we're going to be better.

"We'll get better week on week.

"You have an autumn international break when you miss quite a lot of your players and it's quite hard to hit the ground running again.

"It's taken us a bit of time but we've got better week on week and it's exciting.

"We've got more improvement in us, and I'm not going to put a limit on that.

"We can get better and once I'm happy with how we're playing, I'll be retired because that's never going to happen.

"We're always pushing to be better and we all know that we can be so much better."