Dowson: Saints must improve slow starts quickly

Director of Rugby Phil Dowson admitted his Northampton Saints side were not at the races during the first 40 minutes as they were defeated 39-24 by Saracens on Sunday.

The hosts dominated the first half, going in at the interval 24-0 to the good at StoneX Stadium with Fergus Burke’s brace added to by front rowers Rhys Carre and Theo Dan.

The men in Black, Green and Gold cut out many of the errors that had plagued them after the turnaround, and returned to Northampton with a try-scoring bonus point as Tommy Freeman, Tom Pearson, Ollie Sleightholme and Archie McParland all crossed the whitewash before full-time.

However, the damage was already done, and Jamie George and Ben Earl’s tries meant Saracens kept Saints at arm’s length to condemn Dowson’s side to their fifth loss of the Gallagher Premiership season.

“There’s a lot of frustration, to put it mildly, that we were so poor in the first half,” he said. “We improved after half-time, but it was too little, too late.

“In both games we were very poor in the first half, didn’t defend with any vigour and leaked tries, didn’t get stuck in physically, didn’t look after the ball or execute any of our plays, and some bits were missing from a mentality point of view which suggest we’re not quite in the game and ready to go – which isn’t acceptable.

“We couldn’t put enough on the pitch to get Saracens under any pressure, and there were lots of things that weren’t functioning in the first half. We had some pretty honest words at half-time, and then we came out flying and got back amongst it. It doesn’t mean anything, but we won the second half playing into the wind.

“So, the most frustrating thing is that we can’t seem play for 80 minutes in the Premiership, especially given our two best performances of the season have been over the last two weeks in Europe. They were 80-minute performances.

“I wouldn’t be aggravated if we weren’t any good. If we couldn’t execute what we’re trying to do, we’d work hard in training to rebuild our game. But we can play, we can get it right, and we can get stuck in physically – but we didn’t against Saracens.”

Saints sit eighth in the standings at Christmas, with huge festive home matches against Newcastle Falcons and Bath Rugby to come either side of the new year.

And Dowson knows there is not much more room for error for his Northampton side if they are to climb the ladder to challenge for the Gallagher Premiership title come the end of the season.

He added: “We need to find something in the Premiership, big time, and we need to get after it.

“What we hoped to get out of Europe was some momentum and both our performances, in very different conditions, I thought were excellent across the board.

“But the league table doesn’t lie, we are where we are, which is a fair distance back now in the title race.

“We still have a lot of quality within this group, quality players and quality coaches, and there’s evidence throughout the first half of the season that when we get it right out on the pitch, we’re still good and will cause any side a lot of trouble.

“The frustration is that we haven’t done it enough, so we need to make sure we put that right as quickly as possible.”