Waller wants to repay Saints' faithful

Jim Mallinder's men were out of sorts over the European break, twice going down to Irish giants Leinster in resounding fashion, including an encounter in Dublin last week that will have left egos bruised.

But Waller is adamant that Saints are not down and out, with attention now fully turned towards dismantling an often difficult to break down Sale Sharks side.

And with three vital Premiership clashes in store over the festive period, Waller believes Saints can rediscover their mojo.

"It was a disappointing performance of course," he said. "We were in it for the first half and we played with a lot of heart, you can't fault the commitment from the guys involved.

"But the rest of the game our performance bolted and that's not what you're looking for at all, but we've got another chance on Friday in the Premiership to make it right.

"We've got guys that have been given a bit of rest coming back into the squad, and hopefully this will give us a good kick to get our momentum going again in the Premiership.

"We've got to learn the lessons from those games; it's not about forgetting them but putting into practise what we've learned on Friday.

"These next three games in the league are absolutely crucial for us. We are playing teams that are very close to us in the table so we know if we can pick up a few points from these then our season starts to look an awful lot better."

Success for the Saints could move them up to sixth in the Premiership standings, as they look to repeat their 26-11 win over the Sharks the last time the two sides met in Northampton.

And Sale have not exactly been on flying form away from home so far this season, with their sole victory away from the AJ Bell Stadium coming against Bristol in Round Seven.

But Waller admits priority number one is repaying the Northampton crowd for their faith over a frustrating fortnight of action.

He added: “We owe it to our fans more than anything to bounce back and put in a good showing.

"We've underperformed in recent weeks but we want to give them something to smile about over the Christmas weekend.

"They are just above us in the standings, and we know that we’ve got to put the same pressure that we put on Leinster for the first 30 minutes on them for the whole game.

"It will be a matter of keeping the ball and building pressure, then hopefully the cracks will start to appear and we’ll be able to score some points."