Relentless and ruthless was how Phil Dowson summarised Northampton Saints’ performance following their record-breaking 90-0 victory over Gloucester Rugby.
The men in Black, Green and Gold amassed the highest-ever points total by a home side in the Gallagher Premiership, on their way to securing a home semi-final for the first time in nine years.
A blistering first half saw 40 points registered and after the break, the foot remained on the throttle with eight more tries scored to take the match total to 14 – three more than Saints’ previous Premiership best total of 11 registered against Wasps in 2014.
“We talked about trying to be relentless and ruthless and I thought we did that,” said director of rugby Dowson. “The bench came on and provided energy as well and stuck to our guns, making sure we went forward with what we were trying to do.
“They don’t hand out any trophies of medals for that [securing a home semi-final] so we acknowledge that and we make sure that drives our energy moving forward.”
Phil Dowson, Director of Rugby
Despite Gloucester knocking on the door with the game’s final passage of play and the result being beyond any doubt, Saints held firm to also secure their first on-field clean sheet since defeating Newcastle Falcons 18-0 in the 2013/14 league-winning season.
“Tommy Bullough our head of S&C was sat behind me and everyone was like ‘keep them out, keep them out’,” added Dowson. “[Defence coach] Lee Radford was hoping for it to be a zero at the end as that speaks volumes about mindset, to keep them out at the end, it sends a message about how much we are bought in.”
Ollie Sleightholme moved to 14 tries in 11 Premiership games this season with his second hat-trick this term, just days after becoming a father for the first time – strengthening calls for international involvement on England’s summer tour.
One for Baby Sleightholme 👼
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) May 11, 2024
New dad @olliesleights toasted the birth of his daughter earlier this week with a blistering hat-trick and this special celebration. pic.twitter.com/zLa7Z5MVsr
“He has been there or thereabouts in the Six Nations, he was in the A squad, unfortunately he didn’t play against Portugal,” said Dowson. “He is definitely in the reckoning. Based on his out-and-out speed and his aggression as well, there are two of his fortes.
“His partner had their first baby on Thursday so he came in on Friday pretty fired up, so it was nice to see him get some tries and celebrate that momentous occasion as well.”
Table-topping Saints have one final game ahead before the home semi-final when they travel south to face fellow play-off chasing side Bath on Saturday at The Rec. Dowson gave an insight into the squad’s mindset as they approach the Round 18 encounter.
He said: “Bath are a very good side, especially at home, we need to try and maintain the momentum and keep pushing our performance. We need to make sure we go to The Rec fully loaded from an intent point of view and a physicality point of view, and see where we end up.”
