Phil Dowson praised his Northampton Saints side’s composure in their 19-36 victory at Newcastle Red Bulls, after the back-and-forth Gallagher PREM clash eventually ended the way of the men in Black, Green and Gold thanks to a late Alex Coles score.
Saints had built up an early lead at Kingston Park through JJ Van Der Mescht and Alex Mitchell’s efforts, but their hosts clawed their way back into the match with two scores of their own before the break. And while Edoardo Todaro and Tommy Freeman also crossed the tryline for Northampton, after lock Van Der Mescht was shown a pair of yellow cards, Newcastle galvanised to bring the game back within a score after an hour.
Newcastle thought they’d drawn level after 64 minutes but when the TMO intervened to chalk off their fourth score for a dangerous clear out on Ed Prowse in the build-up, Saints turned the screw and sent a galloping Coles over for the game-ending try with two minutes to play.
“We knew there’d be a reaction from Red Bulls with regards to their result last week,” said Dowson after the clash. “We spoke about that in the week and I think you could see us act on that.
“We started well, we had a 14-0 start to get us into it. But there were still discipline issues there, we gave them a way back into the game; and then, in the second half, they gathered momentum and with our 20-minute red card it became difficult for us.
“I’d definitely take that result on the road, particularly at a place that’s beginning to gather some more cohesion and momentum of their own.
“If they’d got to 26-26 it would have been tight, but I’d still back our group to manage the game with international half-backs and the quality we had on the field.
“We were back to 15 at that point and even at 26-26, but I was still feeling relatively positive.”
Saints conceded 14 penalties in Newcastle and spent 30 minutes of the clash down to 14 men as a result – after team discipline saw Van Der Mescht first leave for repeated infringements, before a high tackle from the lock earned him a second yellow card and ultimately a 20-minute red card.
The run of ill-discipline has been something of a thorn in Saints’ side so far this term, with the only match where their penalties conceded was in single digits being their 33-33 draw against Exeter Chiefs in Round 1.
And, for Dowson, Northampton must work to correct their discipline if they are to maintain their place at the top of the PREM pile.
He said: “Some of those penalties are always going to unavoidable but some of them are entirely in our control and that’s why we get frustrated when you’ve given away territory to a good side, a very motivated side, at crucial times. That’s been a bone of contention for us at the moment, it’s been rumbling in the background for the last few weeks.
“Hopefully we fix that in training, we’ll review that and then we make sure we learn from those mistakes. We’ve been working on that since Gloucester but clearly, we need to keep working on that.”
Saints have dropped just two league points after four rounds of the Gallagher PREM, and remain the only unbeaten team in the league as the side prepare for the final clash of the first block of league matches.
And despite the men in Black, Green and Gold sitting top of the league, Dowson knows his side must remain focused on the next challenge and the arrival of Saracens on Friday night (24 October, kick-off: 7.45pm).
“We don’t look at 18 points out of 20,” said Dowson of Saints’ recent PREM form. “We look at being 30 points up against Exeter and dropping those two points so it could easily have been 20 points from 20.
“We’re aware it’s all good and it’s in the bank but we need to make sure we prepare, with the disruption from England camps this week, for the game against Saracens.
“Saracens are obviously a class outfit with a lot of very, very good players, and they will want to make up for a disappointing season last year, like we do.”