Saints 'in the driving seat' as they bid to accelerate towards home play-off semi-final

They return to a sunny, sold-out cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens knowing that a bonus-point success can propel them into a home play-off semi-final on the first weekend of June.

And that is a prospect that should be more than enough to get them out of bed following the 20-17 Investec Champions Cup semi-final defeat to Leinster at Croke Park last Saturday.

When asked how he and his team-mates are feeling ahead of the home game against Gloucester, Saints prop Manny Iyogun simply said: "Refreshed."

He added: "When you go into Europe, you build yourself up and you're playing in front of a lot of people so now it's the challenge of carrying it into a different competition and building on what you've tried to achieve.

"There's no more need for motivation this week because we're at home, it's a sold-out ground and the boys are absolutely buzzing.

"It's a bit weird because when you come off a loss, sometimes it's hard to get into the week and build for the game at the weekend, but the energy since we came back in on Tuesday has been awesome and lads are putting in a graft knowing we've got a challenge coming."

Saints, who travel to Bath on the final day of the regular season, are top of the table with two games to go.

And Iyogun said: "We're in the driving seat, which is awesome.

"There's not been many seasons previously where we've sat here and had all the power in our own hands.

"We haven't got to wait for another team to lose or another mixture of results, we've got full control over our performance and if we perform, we can get there.

"Our home form has been awesome and that's come from how hard we've worked on our small details.

"(Sam) Vesty always pushes us in terms of learning the tiny bits, the things you think aren't very important in terms of your role off lineout and things like that. They actually really matter and it's about perfecting those little details because that's how you get a result at the weekend."

While Saints didn't manage to grab a final place from last weekend's encounter in Dublin, that doesn't mean there weren't things they could take forward.

"What I took out of last weekend was how to build for a big occasion," Iyogun said.

"Our week was pretty perfect in terms of how we trained and how we built ourselves up through the week.

"When you're playing a big game, you can sort of overprepare for an occasion and get too hyped up on a Monday or Tuesday and then by the weekend you're deflated.

"But we built so nicely that you actually saw on the weekend that boys were so full of energy and you saw that in our defensive performance."

At the age of just 23, the crucial lessons keep coming for Iyogun.

"These big occasions for young guys like me are awesome," he said.

"The more you're in them, the more you feel comfortable and the more you feel actually when you get that opportunity again, you know what to do and don't feel the pressure.

"That sort of experience is invaluable."

At the other end of the experience spectrum is Alex Waller, who played his final European game for Saints last weekend.

Iyogun was the man to replace the retiring Waller, who spent time soaking it all in as he walked off the field at Croke Park.

"It's pretty emotional for me because I know how much that guy puts in off the field," said Iyogun of his fellow loosehead prop.

"All the guys will tell you he's one of the hardest working players they've ever been around so seeing him get his dues and walk off the European pitch for the final time is awesome and he will remember it for the rest of his life."