Saints braced for altitude challenge in Champions Cup

Northampton back row Juarno Augustus dives in at the corner to score a tryImage source, Getty Images
Image caption,

Juarno Augustus scored two of Northampton's tries in last weekend's win over Castres

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Northampton Saints are ready for the physical challenge of playing at altitude after leaving the English winter behind for their latest European Champions Cup game.

Saints will take on South African side Bulls in Pretoria, having made a winning start to the competition by beating French side Castres 38-8 last weekend.

Bulls, by contrast, lost 27-5 to Saracens but Saints know they will be a formidable proposition on their own turf.

Their Loftus Versfeld Stadium is at an altitude of 1,350 metres.

"I don't think many of us - if any of us - have actually played out there, at altitude, in the heat, so we're incredibly excited," England full-back George Furbank told BBC Radio Northampton.

"Dows (boss Phil Dowson) has made it pretty clear 'this is not a holiday, boys' and we're going out there to do a job.

"You look at their home record, they're incredibly hard to beat, but we back ourselves and we feel if we put in a performance we can beat them."

Having played against Castres in ferocious winds, Saints are braced for temperatures as high as 35 degrees celsius in Pretoria which, director of rugby Phil Dowson said, has recently been experiencing a heatwave.

"It'll be a different surface (as well), very hard under foot, so that brings issues with calves and feet, and there's elements from a travel point of view, from a safety point of view," he continued.

"There's definitely challenges. It's just the speed at which you lose your breath (at altitude). At the same time, they've (Bulls) been away from home for a period of time, so we're not going to use that as an excuse.

"Yes, there an acclimatisation to it - I'm sure the lads will be laughing about how tired they are but once the game starts we've just got to get into it."

Image source, Getty Images
Image caption,

George Furbank was not involved for Northampton in their opening group game

Dowson joked that the team will be playing at the "southern edge of Europe" against opponents who have 17 Springboks in their squad.

But they won 59-22 against Bulls in a quarter-final tie at Franklin's Gardens in April, running in nine tries in the process.

Bulls aspire to be "the most physical side in world club rugby", according to Dowson, but he added: "We want to take them on, we don't want to be sat wondering, we want to get stuck in and find out where we come out."

Despite the quality of opposition in the Premiership, Furbank believes the Champions Cup is a "definitely a step up."

He said: "It's reffed [refereed] differently as well, which is something you've got to get used to. We'll be playing against some double World Cup winners so it's an exciting challenge.

"Any South African side is going to pose a big physical threat and they've got some incredible ball players and runners as well in their team. They'll have a full field threat and we've got to be ready for that and bring our game as well."

Meanwhile, Saints have confirmed that their next home fixture, a Premiership game against Newcastle Falcons on 28 December, is completely sold out.