Team Northumbria head of Rugby Union Darren Fearn admitted his players are relishing the chance to get back out on to the Kingston Park pitch tonight for their first home game of 2018 against Bath.
Last time out, TN battled it out against Loughborough - running out 41-31 winners in a free-flowing game of BUCS Super Rugby.
And following the postponement of last week’s match against Nottingham Trent, Fearn and his squad are brimming with excitement.
“We’re all looking forward to the game against Bath,” said Fearn.
“We’ve had a really good training week and we’re just taking things one game at a time.
“Obviously before Christmas I think we started looking at the table too much and it didn’t work for us.
“It just added pressure so we’re just focusing on playing bath on Friday night.
“There’s an excitement all around the camp and we’re just keen to get back out there after a week’s lay off.”
Heading into the tie, TN sit third with games in hand on leaders Exeter and Cardiff Met.
And while Bath sit in seventh place, Fearn was adamant that his side were in for a tough test and that they would have to be at their best to secure the win.
“Our preparation for the game has been full on,” said Fearn.
“We didn’t have a game last week which allowed us to do some more physical stuff at the back end of last week.
“Bath are a dynamic team.
“They have a physical forward pack and their back three is very exciting.
“They’re actually quite similar to ourselves so we’re going to have to have a good mindset and take it to them.
“Against Loughborough the scrummaging was really good.
“It was probably one of the best performances I’ve seen since I started coaching here.
“So we’ve seen that we can put in a performance for 80 minutes. The challenge now is that we’ve got to go out against Bath and do it again.
“We’ve got to be at the races because Bath will be a tough test.”
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