Winger Tom Collins is adamant that consistent wins are not far away for a Northampton Saints side which has come a long way in a short period of time under Chris Boyd.
The men in Black, Green and Gold were beaten 38-27 at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday by Saracens, despite tries from Piers Francis, Dylan Hartley, and Ben Franks – as well as 12 points from the boot of Dan Biggar – handing the hosts a narrow lead with just ten minutes remaining.
Collins was Saints’ top metre-maker again during Saturday’s clash with the reigning Gallagher Premiership champions, and played all 80 minutes for the third straight week.
And the 24-year-old fleet-footed flyer insists the side is getting closer and closer to nailing Boyd’s game-plan, with a tricky trip to Bath Rugby on the horizon this weekend.
“It was a frustrating game for us,” he said. “We spoke about it as a team after the match and the performance shows just how far we’ve come as a team in the last few months.
"We’re going to have to get our heads up now and focus on the next game against Bath as the Gallagher Premiership just keeps on getting tougher."
Tom Collins
“Last year we clearly really struggled against Saracens, so this shows we are going in the right direction but at the end of the day it’s a loss and we’ll have to go back to the drawing board this week and build up to Bath.
“We wanted to come out and give it our all and set a marker for where we are as a team, and I think we did that – we looked sharp in some areas and showed promise in others.
“We fell short in the last ten minutes and that’s very frustrating, especially to concede twice right at the end, but that happens and we’re going to have to get our heads up and focus on the next game as the Gallagher Premiership just keeps getting tougher.
“It’s going to come together at some point and when it does it’s going to look really good. We’re showing a lot of promise and that’s exciting moving forward.
“Despite the result, the lads are so confident at the minute as they know where we’re striving to be. We’re losing 50-50 battles at the moment but we’re sure it will come together and we’ll start winning consistently.”
Tickets are still available for Saints' next home match, which sees the men in Black, Green and Gold take The Derby against Leicester Tigers to Twickenham in aid of Rob Horne. Tickets prices start from £25 for adults and £10 for juniors. To purchase tickets please CLICK HERE.
