Radford delighted with Saints’ urgency in defence

While tries from Ollie Sleightholme and Alex Mitchell built Northampton Saints’ score against Saracens on Saturday, the 18-12 triumph was ultimately built on a resolute defence, masterminded by coach Lee Radford. 

Saints kept their hosts scoreless in the first half at StoneX Stadium, and held Saracens to only 12 points in the second 40 minutes, which proved their lowest number of points conceded in a Gallagher Premiership match so far this term. 

And that statistic will have pleased Radford, who was delighted with the strength of Saints’ defence at the home of the reigning champions.

“The performance all round was really controlled and defensively we were physically really at it,” Radford said. “You have to be if you want to go there and get a result.

“'I’m really pleased with the urgency we showed. Our reactions and our awareness were through the roof.

“We spoke about last season’s semi-final when the lads came here and felt they didn’t fire a shot. They almost came here with their gloves by their sides and that was disappointing for them.

“So, to come here and get off to a good start was really important, and we did that really well.”

Saints made some 163 tackles at the StoneX, with Tom Pearson (19), Sam Graham (13) and Fraser Dingwall (12) leading the way – and it was the latter who gained the plaudits from Radford. 

“He’s very good,” Radford said of the centre who also set up Ollie Sleightholme’s try with a perfectly-weighted crossfield kick. 

“He’s very good at articulating his point, he gets his point across very well and his communication levels are through the roof on the field.

“In pre-game, the build-up, the little add-ons he brings to the team – it’s like having another coach on the field and the more of them we can have, the better.”

Saints head into the Investec Champions Cup this weekend – taking on Glasgow Warriors in the competition’s opening round – on a run of back-to-back victories, having beaten both Harlequins and Saracens since a disappointing defeat to Leicester Tigers. 

And Radford said: “The manner of that defeat at Leicester, it was almost a slow death defeat, and those are the worst ones to take.

“The energy levels and urgency levels we had at Saracens weren’t there in that game at Leicester. There was some intent but our energy levels and urgency levels weren't where they needed to be.

“There’s been a conscious effort to get better at that as the weeks have gone on.”