'Tweaks' have lifted Northampton displays - Iyogun

Manny Iyogun made his Northampton first-team debut in 2019-20

Northampton Saints prop Manny Iyogun says their successes in Europe are the result of 'tweaks' rather than any major tactical changes arising from their domestic struggles.

Saints were whitewashed 33-0 at home by Leicester Tigers and lost at Sale in their most recent Premiership games.

But they bounced back by beating Clermont Auvergne and Castres to book a place in the European Champions Cup semi-finals for the second year running.

"Our takeaway from the games where we didn't get too much right - if you look at the Leicester game - our set-piece actually functioned very well, in terms of our ball security and things like that," he told BBC Radio Northampton.

"It was the little 5% that were killing us, so that flip wasn't that hard for us to do.

"So, come to Clermont and Castres, you see a different performance, but we just sat down and tweaked and fine tuned a little bit."

Iyogun said he had relished the challenge of testing himself against two strong French packs in successive weeks.

"You're playing against the top of the top. In terms of our training standard and our level, we've never underestimated our opposition, we wanted to prove a point and have done a pretty decent job," he said.

"At the start of the season, I had a bit of blip, suffering an ankle injury and I've just tried to get on the park, get as many training sessions in as possible."

Iyogun, who played for England A against Australia A last year, has made 18 appearances for Saints this season, scored two tries, and has established himself as a favourite among supporters.

He said: "As a prop, you're sometimes in the shadows and it's nice to get some recognition for the hard work you're putting in.

"The world of the front row is changing and you're being forced to play in a way that is very free-flowing and flexible now, as opposed to walking from set-piece to set-piece."

The Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster will take place on 24 May so Northampton return to Premiership action on Friday as they travel north to face Newcastle Falcons.

They are eighth in the table, 13 points adrift of the top four with just five games remaining.