The Saints were 0-26 down at half-time as a combination of their own errors and Leinster’s ruthlessness took the game beyond them, but the scrum-half says the squad are out to right those wrongs at the Aviva Stadium.
“You can’t afford to give a quality side like Leinster that kind of start,” he told Wednesday’s press conference. “We’ve looked back over the video, particularly our start to the game and there are obviously a number of areas where we can improve a lot.
“These Heineken Cup weekends are good though because you get to have another crack [at Leinster] straight away. You’re never going to have a perfect season and we’ve already had plenty of setbacks this year – last Saturday being one of them.
“What’s important is how you bounce back and while the mood has been a bit different this week, the boys have all trained really well – there’s a bit of an edge - and we’re determined to give a better account of ourselves.”
Despite heading into the Round 4 Heineken Cup clash as overwhelming underdogs, that is something Dickson is paying little attention to.
The England 9 instead insists that the squad will be focused on their own responsibilities and looking to regain some of the momentum from the seven game winning run that was ended by the Dubliners – particularly with a big few weeks coming up.
“They’re a great side and we saw that last week, but we’ve also got a lot of top players and we’ll be going over there to restore a bit of pride and we’re confident we can do that.
“All the talk has rightly been about Leinster and we’ll go to Dublin as massive underdogs. No one is giving us a chance but what we’ve got to do is stay tight as a squad and really step up.
“We’ve not become a bad team over night and a good showing this weekend will also be important as we move back into a group of crucial Premiership games.”
You can follow this weekend’s game, which kicks off at 6pm, live on Sky Sports HD and at www.saints.live.co.uk, where you can also keep up to speed with the stats as the action unfolds.
