Lawes confident Saints can keep winning habit

COURTNEY Lawes believes Northampton Saints are finally up and running after a slow start to the new season and have the momentum to continue their winning ways in their Heineken Cup opener against Munster in Limerick on Saturday evening.

The England lock was one of the stars of the show for Northampton on Sunday as they racked up a fifth win in-a-row with an English Premiership win away at London Wasps at High Wycombe which included a try apiece in the second half from props Soane Tonga’uiha and Brian Mujati.

After a poor start to the campaign, in which Jim Mallinder’s side lost four of their first five matches, the Saints, with their full complement of World Cup players back in harness, turned on the power in the second half at Adams Park to score a 24-13 win and move up to sixth in the table, just a point off the top four.

Now comes a return to Heineken Cup action with a pool one opener at Thomond Park and Lawes said last season’s finalists had to keep the momentum up on Irish soil.

“You get into the habit of winning and it’s important you try and keep that habit as long as you can, Lawes said.

“I haven’t seen much of Munster so far this year but I know it’s always pretty passionate down there and I’m certain it’s going to be a good game. I’m excited for it.”

Northampton have been buoyed by the return of Lawes and fellow England squad mates Dylan Hartley, Tom Wood, Chris Ashton and Ben Foden as well as Tonga’s tighthead Tonga’uiha and Russia wing Vas Artemyev, a try scorer against Ireland during the World Cup pool stages.

“The boys did the best they could at the start of the season, but now we have got a full strength squad and we are good to go and moving up the table,” Lawes told the Northampton Chronicle & Echo.

“We have much more strength in depth and we will rotate the side more this year. We have done better every year since Jim (Mallinder) and (forwards coach) Dorian (West) took over, and I can only expect we will do the same this year.”

The club campaign also gives Lawes an opportunity to lay to rest a forgettable World Cup which saw him suspended following a late hit on Argentina’s Mario Ledesma in the opening pool game.

The Saints lock was again under scrutiny at the weekend following big but legal hits on Wasps’ Nicky Robinson and Hugo Southwell that earned him the boos of the home fans if not punishment.

“I am just going to play my game,” Lawes said.

“I am not a dirty player and I don’t bother with fighting any more, I just crack on with my game. I live on the edge and I want to make big hits. I do my best to stay on the right side of the referee.

“Sometimes I slip up and make a mistake like last week (a yellow card against Newcastle), but I am just going to play my heart out for the team. I tried to pull out of last week’s one, but ended up shoulder-barging him, which is illegal and why I got sin-binned.

“I aim to be a physical player, that is what I am good at and that is what I want to do every week.

I have just got to be careful I don’t give away penalties, which frustrate me because they are not good for the team.”