Al told the Evening Times: "What we need to produce on Sunday is a Test Match-level performance.
"We know if we produce our best against Northampton then we will give ourselves a chance of a positive result and that could prove pivotal for our whole group campaign.
"Northampton are former Heineken Cup winners, they made the final a couple of seasons back and they lead the English Premiership right now, but we are going south to win.
"Over the course of the week there has been a real intensity to our preparations, we know that we are overdue a result in England, and this would be the best possible time to achieve that.
"The match will be won up front. We must be proactive in our actions at Franklin's Gardens as they are a very powerful pack who take you on up front and send their ball carriers round the corners. But there are a few teams like that who are similar in their approach in the PRO12.
"We showed what we are capable of up front at Cardiff last weekend and, if we can lift it a notch from that, we will give ourselves a platform to achieve a famous win"