‘Grittiness and mindset’ were key to a much-changed Northampton Saints side delivering their first away victory of the season, according to director of rugby Phil Dowson.
Factoring in the late injury withdrawal of James Ramm, captain Burger Odendaal was the only survivor from the starting line-up that defeated Castres for the Good Friday trip to Kingston Park and take on Newcastle Falcons.
The men in Black, Green and Gold lost Charlie Savala and Tom Pearson to injuries in the first half, but managed to build a 20-point lead courtesy of tries from Luke Green, Craig Wright, Will Glister, Tom James and Fin Smith that were all successfully converted.
A late surge of scoring saw Newcastle close the gap to just a point, but Saints held on to claim a 35-34 victory – their third in succession across all competitions.
“We had so much disruption in the week with injuries, so credit to the coaching staff and the players,” said Dowson. “Hutch [Rory Hutchinson] got told he was playing fullback at midday on the day of the game. The training week was tough, but I think the characteristics that we went after, the traits that we went after in terms of that grittiness and that mindset came through in the end, particularly in that last defensive set.
“Regardless of the situation, the scoreboard, pressure etc, we want to make sure that we keep making good decisions and that comes down to the way they train, the way we try and put the gameplan together to give them those opportunities. Fin showed his class when he came on, when ideally he would’ve had longer sat on the bench. He is obviously world class at some elements of his game but we had lots of young players out there who were just starting their journey and the experience will be good for them as well.”
The television man-of-the-match award went to scrum-half James, who scored a crucial second-half try that saw fly-half Smith combine with centre Odendaal to create a break through centre field.
“The fact you’ve got Mitch [Alex Mitchell] sat on the bench and TJ got man of the match speaks volumes about the man.
“Tom [James] is one of those guys who puts the club first, works incredibly hard, is a very talented player with a great left foot and he works and works and you can see that in the way he plays.”
Phil Dowson, Director of Rugby
Saints’ five-point haul, combined with results elsewhere, sees the gap between themselves and fifth place close to eight points with four rounds remaining – starting with the visit of Bristol Bears to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday 26 April (kick-off: 5.30pm) – tickets are still available by clicking HERE.
While an Investec Champions Cup semi-final away against Leinster comes the following week, Dowson is keen to keep pushing upwards in the Gallagher Premiership in their remaining fixtures.
“We want to climb the league, we’re not happy being sat in eighth and we want to string some performances together,” he explained.
“Our away record has been poor this season and it is good to get the monkey off the back to a degree. That experience for some of the young players, first Premiership starts for Will Glister, Craig Wright and for Iakopo Mapu, will stand us in good stead when we try and push forward for the rest of the season.”
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