Saints wing Vasily Artemyev admits he has had a ‘mixed’ season so far.
But the Russian rocket says he is working hard to keep his place in the side.
Artemyev has been named in the starting line-up in every game for Northampton during this campaign, scoring two tries along the way.
But he has endured some tough times, including at London Irish where he struggled at full-back and was withdrawn after just 50 minutes as Saints lost 39-17.
“It’s been a bit of a mixed performance from week to week, personally,” said the 25-year-old.
“I feel like I’m putting in the work and it’s starting to pay off.
“I’m just going to stick it out and work hard to try to claim my place every week. You can’t really claim it for the year, you just have to earn it.”
Artemyev couldn’t prevent Saints suffering a 16-6 defeat to Saracens at Franklin’s Gardens last Saturday.
But they now have a great chance to bounce back from that reverse when they travel to east midlands rivals Leicester Tigers this weekend.
“We feel we let ourselves and let the fans down last weekend and we want to set it right,” said Artemyev.
“The commitment is going to be full on and hopefully things go well for us.
“There’s a lot of excitement in the squad. We’re raring to go.
“The atmosphere is buzzing at the moment and we can’t wait to go and set a few things right this weekend.”
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