The big interview: Tom Vickers talks to Saints prop Cleopas Kundiona
After getting 17 appearances under his belt during his first season with Saints, Cleopas Kundiona is ready to attack his second campaign as though it were a scrum.
The Zimbabwe tighthead prop arrived in Northampton from French Pro D2 side USON Nevers last summer.
And he made a strong impression for Saints, showing once again how well their recruitment and development process is currently working.
Kundiona has been handed an even bigger role at the start of this season, with Trevor Davison working his way back from a serious knee injury and Elliot Millar Mills having joined Newcastle Red Bulls this summer.
Millar Mills will make a rapid return to DPD Stadium at Franklin's Gardens as he wears the No.3 shirt for Newcastle in the Gallagher PREM opener on Friday night.
Lining up in the same role for Saints will be Kundiona, who is now fully settled in Northampton after playing his part in last season's title-winning campaign.
"I'm excited," Kundiona said. "Going into last season, especially for me, it was about getting used to a new environment and the boys but now I've settled in.
"We're just looking forward to carrying the momentum from last season into this one.
"The mindset is to take it as it comes.
"Obviously we know what we can do and we're really trying to do our best to replicate what we did last season without looking at last season too much.
"Teams also change and we know it's not going to be the same games that we play and the same way we do it, but it's how we can best do it in a way that this team can go out there and put out good performances."
Kundiona has certainly earned the trust of the Saints coaches in a fairly short amount of time, looking at home in the PREM.
"When I first signed, I really saw Northampton as a place where I could develop my game, in terms of just being more focused on set piece, around the park, and since being here the coaches have been very on that," he said.
"Every week, I've been getting tips, reminders helping me with this, helping me with that and I think I'm getting to a place where I can be more confident in my playing ability.
"This pre-season has been better than last season.
"Last season, my wife was pregnant and we had our baby last season so there was a lot of disruption but this time I just had time to focus on the game and I know what the coaches expect.
"So working on those things have made it a good pre-season."
Kundiona has felt the benefit of working with Saints scrum coach Jaco Pienaar.
"He's helped me a lot," the 27-year-old said.
"He picks up on everything - the smallest of things. He doesn't let anything slide.
"In your setup in the scrum, he's already saying 'Cleo, you're moving your foot a little bit too much, a centimetre too much' and it makes the difference.
"It starts the domino from the smallest thing and it just builds and builds.
"Before I didn't understand that, but now I understand that everything has a domino effect and if you do that correctly the outcome will come."
When asked about the main differences he has found from scrummaging in France's second division and the PREM, Kundiona said: "When you come from France and Pro D2, the scrum is a bit more individual and they cheat in the scrum a lot - and you have to because the other team is going to be doing the same thing.
"But here in the PREM, it's about how much pressure you can build as an eight and if you go against system you're going to mess it up for everyone else because it's a unit thing.
"It was that mentality flipping from 'I just want to dominate my opposition' to 'yes, I want to do that but as part of the team'."
Kundiona will look to dominate against Newcastle Red Bulls in the PREM curtain raiser.
But he knows he will have his work cut out, as he does every time he faces a top-level English side.
"In this league, they will all say they've got a good set piece," he said. "It's going to be a battle up front in mauls and scrums. You can't run away from that and it's up to us to meet that challenge.
"We're really just focusing on us and our principles.
"No one knows what they might turn up with but we just have to know we need to be at our best."
Kundiona has loved being part of what is a hugely impressive Saints squad.
And he said: "It's very special.
"The unity and the connection we have is something I haven't seen, particularly on the field, and it also translates off the field in how the boys are really connected, how we are in the changing room. It's pretty loose, but when it's time to focus on the field, the switch is something amazing.
"There's a lot of excitement and that's because the team has produced results and we know we have to produce results for our fans who come to watch the game every week.
"I love playing at the Gardens, I love the fans, the atmosphere.
"When I first played here, I didn't know it was going to be like that.
"Every weekend when we played at home, even for PRC (PREM Rugby Cup) games, it was packed, the fans were lively, it was something great."