Phil Dowson believes ‘desperation’ is driving Northampton Saints forwards, as a number of different faces came to the fore when the men in Black, Green and Gold defeated Leicester Tigers in Saturday’s East Midlands derby.
The hosts took to the field at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens with seven changes from the previous weekend’s Investec Champions Cup victory over the Vodacom Bulls – but there was no stopping the hosts as they powered to a 40-17 victory in front of a capacity crowd to remain top of the Gallagher Premiership table.
Director of Rugby Dowson was quick to highlight the players who came into the side as playing a key role in keeping the momentum rolling, during a period of relentless back-to-back challenges.
“You have to be mindful in terms of minutes played, of the energy levels, of the strength in-depth,” he said. “There’s lots of lads in that squad who didn’t play today.
“I am thinking of Angus Scott-Young, Chunya Munga, all of these guys that are still absolutely desperate to show what they are about. We have a really good group of people who are desperate.
“Having the ability to bring in Robbie Smith, Tarek Haffar, all these guys to show what they're about, that drives the energy through what is a monotonous part of the season.”
Phil Dowson, Director of Rugby
Tigers were ahead at the break as Saints could only land two George Furbank penalties in response to Julian Montoya’s try and two successful Handre Pollard kicks.
Curtis Langdon’s score and a penalty try after the break were countered by Jasper Wiese’s power to the line for Tigers. But after Solomone Kata was dismissed for his collision with Fraser Dingwall, Saints pulled clear with Robbie Smith, George Hendy and Tom James adding tries and Fin Smith concluded the scoring with a sweetly-struck drop goal.
“You never get tired of beating Leicester,” added Dowson. “It’s such a historic fixture and we knew the intensity with which they would start the game.
"We managed to keep the ball for multiple phases and clearly a red card has a huge impact, because it was 18-17 at that point, and then it was one-way traffic in the last 10-15 minutes – so we were fortunate in that space.
No, this is not sped up. @CurtisLangdon2 doing his thing yet again 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hYAaalYM4J
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) April 21, 2024
“But I thought the work we did in the first half and the work we did in the first 20 minutes of the second half had put them into a place where we could exert control.
“We got on top of them and the card obviously has an impact. That’s just the way it is.”
Saints now face a trip to Twickenham Stadium on Saturday to face Harlequins in the ‘Big Summer Kick-Off’, as the league season enters its final three rounds.
“There has been a run of games after a disappointing loss to Bristol was Saracens here, then Round-of-16 (Munster), then a quarter-final, then a derby, then Twickenham – we’re excited about the challenges that we are giving ourselves the opportunity to play in,” added Dowson.
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