Northampton Saints are ready for the physical challenge of playing at altitude after leaving the English winter behind for their latest European Champions Cup game.
Saints will take on South African side Bulls in Pretoria, having made a winning start to the competition by beating French side Castres 38-8 last weekend.
Bulls, by contrast, lost 27-5 to Saracens but Saints know they will be a formidable proposition on their own turf.
Their Loftus Versfeld Stadium is at an altitude of 1,350 metres.
“I don’t think many of us – if any of us – have actually played out there, at altitude, in the heat, so we’re incredibly excited,” England full-back George Furbank told BBC Radio Northampton.
“Dows (boss Phil Dowson) has made it pretty clear ‘this is not a holiday, boys’ and we’re going out there to do a job.
“You look at their home record, they’re incredibly hard to beat, but we back ourselves and we feel if we put in a performance we can beat them.”
