Dowson: Saints so good in first half, but then so poor in second

Director of Rugby Phil Dowson could not hide his frustration after his Northampton Saints side squandered a 26-point lead in the second half of their opening Gallagher PREM match of the season to draw 33-33 with Exeter Chiefs.

“It’s hugely disappointing that we’ve given up a 33-7 half-time lead to draw a game that should have been out of sight,” he said.

“We didn’t value the ball, we didn’t look after the ball for any sort of time, we kept giving them field position and possession – and in this league, you’re going to get punished.

“We were punished time and again, and once we lost our momentum, we seemed incapable of getting it back.”

The men in Green, Black and Gold had a dominant first-half performance that included a brace of tries for 19-year-old winger Edoardo Todaro in front of a capacity crowd at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Alex Coles, Tom Litchfield and Tom Pearson also crossed the line and, at the half-way point, there appeared to be only one winner on the cards.

However, in the second period, the visitors managed to score 26 unanswered points to come away with a draw, as both sides took three points away from the fixture.

“We were so good in the first half and then so poor in the second,” Dowson added.

“There was some really good attack in there and some pretty average defence in there, but fundamentally, we didn’t get beyond three phases in the second half, and when we did, we got into their half.

“We were very sloppy with the ball, not doing the things that we practiced, not sticking to the fundamentals, so it was a big headache.”

“Some of them were unforced errors,” the Director of Rugby continued. “And some of them, we really need to have a dig into what pressure we were under.

“Generally, it’s hard to wrestle momentum back midway through a half, and as it stands at the moment, having not spoken to the players yet, it’s difficult to find out what the decisions were and what the leadership looked like.”

Dowson and his squad will now look ahead to next week as they face a trip away to Kingsholm, as they take on Gloucester in Round 2 of the Gallagher PREM on Sunday (5 October, kick-off 3pm).

“We’ve got to make sure we’re aware of the threats they have and how good they are at home,” said Dowson. “So we’ve got to make sure we learn our lessons from today and make sure we’re much more capable of an 80-minute performance.”