Director of Rugby Phil Dowson stressed Northampton Saints are doing all they can to turn around their away form following Friday night’s loss to Bristol Bears.
The men in Black, Green and Gold built an early 15-point lead despite being without their England internationals who are away on camp in Girona. However, the hosts showed their experience to come from behind and secure a 31-23 victory at Ashton Gate.
While Saints are unbeaten in front of their own supporters at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens for more than a year, the Bristol loss was their fifth in succession in the top flight on the road – something Dowson is hoping to reverse when the competition resumes following the Autumn Nations Series.
He said: “It’s hard to win away. We’re conscious of those stats and working incredibly hard.
“The only thing you can do is train, make sure you look after your performance and I don’t think we’re miles away.
“We’ll continue to improve, particularly this group, and we’ll keep plugging away.”
Phil Dowson
“Bristol managed to keep playing their game. It was full energy, 100 miles per hour and they managed to create so many opportunities.
“We defended with a huge amount of pride but we didn’t manage to keep them out in the last 20 minutes and that really turned the tide. Two scores back-to-back and we were under scoreboard pressure then.”
Saints bagged first-half tries through George Hendy and Josh Kemeny plus five points from debutant fly-half George Makepeace-Cubitt.
Bristol trailed by four points at the break as Kalaveti Ravouvou and Gabriel Ibitoye landed tries, both converted by Premiership stalwart fly-half AJ MacGinty.
Ravouvou’s second, plus a breakaway score finished off by Joe Batley and three more successful MacGinty kicks built a 13-point buffer for the hosts – which was closed late on when James Ramm crossed in the right corner courtesy of a sublime break and pass from Rory Hutchinson.
However, Saints would leave Bristol without any points for their endeavours, as the first Gallagher Premiership block ends entering the Premiership Rugby Cup period.
“We talk about the squad being the core to our strength and the fact that people like Tom Litchfield and Tom Seabrook can drop in and put in a performance, particularly in the first half where we were so strong, is a positive,” Dowson added.
“We obviously need to get more quality and keep working and developing those individuals, but at the same time there’s so much talent in the squad, we just need to be a bit better at getting our game on the pitch.”
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