91Èȱ¬

Northampton Saints defence coach Lee Radford says the Premiership Rugby Cup is a "great concept".

Saints failed to make the knockout stage of last season's competition but went on to win the Premiership title for the first time in a decade.

But Radford believes the cup provides a great opportunity for top-flight clubs to take stock and identify players who can contribute in the league later in the campaign.

"I love the fact it gives some opportunities to young players that probably haven't had the minutes in the early rounds of the Premiership," Radford told 91Èȱ¬ Radio Northampton.

"It's a good opportunity this time of year to have a little recess of what's gone on in the early period of the season and give you some stuff to work on in a less pressured environment.

"Without doing it a disservice, it's not the blowtorch of the Premiership. There's enough pressure to be competitive and want to win all your games, but also the freedom of being able to try some other things.

"I really enjoyed it last year because it gave us an early indicator of where some blokes were at - George Hendy, for example, he made some real strides during that period and you could see he was 'Prem ready' almost."

Saints beat Leicester Tigers 31-12 in their opening match of this season's PRC before narrowly overcoming a fired-up Nottingham side 31-29.

"For Nottingham it was their European Cup final, it was their Prem final, you could see how serious they took it," said Radford.

"They got together in a huddle, you could see there was real intent, it was a really big occasion for them playing at the Premiership champions."

Northampton, the 2019 Cup winners, complete the first half of the pool stage - return games take place in February - with a trip to Championship and group leaders Coventry on Saturday.

And, like Nottingham, Radford expects they will provide a stern challenge.

"Coventry have got the champions coming to their home ground, they're going to be after it and the key for us is making sure we turn up with the right energy and intent," he added.

"We can make errors, we can be a little bit giddy defensively but we can't lose the energy battle. It's really important that we dictate the intensity of the game and not let it be dictated to us."