Saints must fight fire with fire

The flanker was part of the England side that saw their Grand Slam hopes crushed by Ireland at the Aviva Stadium last month.

Following the RBS 6 Nations encounter Ulster and Ireland wing Andrew Trimble admitted a sense of hatred of England had motivated the home side.

Now as Wood prepares for another brutal Anglo-Irish encounter, he admits Northampton need to summon the same kind of passion as they target a place in the semi-finals.

"Everyone hates us, so that stuff is pretty much run of the mill," said Wood. "You do whatever gets you up for it on match day. If that's what sparks them into life then fair enough.

"We don't seem to have that same hatred for everyone else, but you need a little bit of that, especially in the forwards.

"The backs need cooler heads but forwards need to get stuck in and play as if their lives depend on it.

"You have to make it personal against the opposition. It isn't personal, afterwards you shake hands, but on the field it has to be.

"There's a danger that before the game you concentrate on the technical stuff - then you go out there and they're so up for it that none of it comes off.

"We must make sure that doesn't happen to us on Sunday, that we set our own intensity and own aggression levels and dictate to them more. We're up for it, it's our home turf and it means that much to us."

But Wood is also mindful of the importance of keeping a cool head in the heat of the battle to avoid disciplinary trouble.

"The intensity and aggression comes naturally to me," added Wood.

"If anything I have to temper my aggression a little bit. I've been caught out in the past for getting into scraps.

"It will be nice to get one up again and get back on a positive against the Irish, but we can't have too many personal grudges.

"We want to win for us and our reasons, but for the England lads who played in Dublin it will be nice to have felt like we've evened the score."