Saints won’t shy away from ‘painful’ Tigers defeat, says Coles

Alex Coles was quick to admit that Northampton Saints’ 0-33 home loss to Leicester Tigers was the ‘most painful game’ he’d ever played in. 

The 25-year-old lock featured in the final 32 minutes of the Gallagher Premiership clash, entering the action when Saints were already 23 points adrift. 

And Coles did not mince his words when discussing Saints’ record East Midlands Derby loss. 

“It’s probably one of, if not the, most painful games I’ve been a part of really,” Coles said. “It made for a pretty tough weekend. We were in on Sunday and the wounds were still very fresh from the game.

“It's never nice to lose to your rivals but to lose at home without scoring a point was a pretty sobering experience.

Coles added: “The number of handling errors that were made were pretty astronomical, and that’s not normal for us either so I think there's a lack of game time together – especially in our backline, loads of the lads have been away, so it's about trying to get that cohesion back in, but that can’t be the only reason.

“It was a bizarre night, a frustrating night, a pretty horrible night.

“After that game, we felt like we needed something a bit different and a group of us senior players felt like we needed to get all the players together without the coaches to really put the mirror on ourselves and have a think as a playing group about ‘were we doing enough?’, ‘what can we do differently?’.

“We’re the ones on the pitch and I’m sure some of the coaches would love to put their boots on, get out there and show us, but they can’t.

“So we’ve got to take responsibility as a playing group and we actually just sat down like that, didn’t show any clips, just had a real honest chat with each other. Then, as the week’s progressed, the coaches have shown us some more technical stuff.”

Saints must get back to winning ways very quickly if they are to keep pushing in the Premiership, and have the perfect opportunity to right the wrongs of last week’s defeat as they travel to Sale Sharks this Friday (28 March, kick-off: 7.45pm). 

And that opportunity is one Coles says he and his fellow Saints are ready to grasp with both hands. 

“We know we’re capable of it and to have that record put on us that we’ve not had a nil at home in however long, we’ve then got the chance to go and do something really positive the next weekend and change what has been a bad away record for us at Sale,” Coles said.

“It’s great in sport that you can just go and get your teeth into something the next week. We’ve had to lick our wounds a bit, try to pick each other up because everyone was feeling pretty dire after last Friday.

“We’ve re-energised ourselves to go and change last weekend’s performance and hopefully change what's been a poor away record for us at Sale. We’re excited about it.”

Saints are without a league win at sixth-place Sale since 2017, where a last-minute Ethan Waller try secured the men in Black, Green and Gold a 32-12 bonus-point win. 

It’s the kind of result Northampton will hope to secure this Friday, but Coles knows exactly what threats Sale will pose in Round 12 of the league.

“They’re a really strong outfit with good players all across the pitch,” Coles added. “They’re well organised, they’re threatening with their kicking game and their pack is physical and direct with a very strong set piece.

“We’ll get much more pay out of bringing the best out of ourselves than worrying too much about the opposition.”

Friday match will be Coles’ second in Black, Green and Gold since being involved in England’s squad during the Guinness Six Nations. The lock did not feature in the side’s five matches but Coles remains grateful for the opportunity to represent his country. 

He said: “It was really exciting being a part of the England campaign. Having been involved in the group for a number of campaigns, I’ve seen us growing really well.

“To see us go on and have a really strong Six Nations and probably prove a lot of people wrong was really positive. I would rather have been on the pitch than just training but either way it was a cool experience to be involved in that.

“It’s just been a bit here and there with my games this season so far. I’ve had a few niggly injuries that have kept me out for a few weeks at a time and they just keep breaking up the momentum.

“I’m hoping I’ve put that behind me now and I can get a run of games together.”