Dowson praises ‘whole squad effort’ in Saints’ first win

Director of Rugby Phil Dowson was pleased to see Northampton Saints retain their composure and seal a 38-22 bonus-point victory over London Irish in the Gallagher Premiership on Saturday. 

Saints had started the Round 2 clash brightly, wasting no time in sending Juarno Augustus over the whitewash early doors before adding three points through the boot of James Grayson. 

But Northampton lacked the clinical edge needed to make the most of a period where the visitors were down to 12 men – with Paddy Jackson’s penalty for Irish the only points scored in the six minutes Saints held a three-man advantage at the start of the second half.

Though, to Dowson’s delight, Saints quickly rediscovered their mojo once Irish were back to a full quota of players and quickfire tries from Ollie Sleightholme, Alex Mitchell and George Furbank sealed the bonus point – with two penalties from the boot of the latter also adding to Northampton’s tally before the full-time whistle blew.

Dowson said: “I would have preferred my first win to come last week, if I’m being absolutely honest, but I'm delighted with that result. 

“I thought we had trained well in the week, and I thought, at times, we played well. There were times when it didn't flow, and I think particularly early in the second half, we didn't necessarily make things stick, we didn’t take our opportunities and maybe tried to overplay a little.

“But when we went back to 15 on 15 and scored quickly, I thought we saw a bit more of our game in that passage.”

One of the most impressive aspects of that period of Saints’ ascendency was the way skipper Furbank stepped up after switching from full-back to fly-half to compensate for the loss of Grayson to a yellow card with 13 minutes remaining. 

The England international, who took on the armband following the withdrawal of Dan Biggar, kicked two penalties to sandwich his bonus-point clinching try, ran in under the posts after getting on the end of an off-load by Alex Coles. 

Dowson said: “He’s obviously played international rugby at 10, so he controlled the game really well. 

“He spoke well during the week, and it was a bit of a no-brainer if Biggs wasn’t available to get Furbs in there [as captain], he was very good.” 

And Dowson was full of praise, too, for another England international in his side in Alex Mitchell – with the scrum-half’s dominant performance seeing him directly involved in two of Saints’ four scores.

“The more [Mitchell] plays the better he gets,” Dowson said of the 25 year old. 

“Even when he runs down a blind alley, he seems to make space and get on the front foot. He's a class act and we know how good he is. 

“He’s integral to our game but it's great to see our strength in that position, with Tom James last week and Cal [Callum Braley] this week.”

Saints’ attention now quickly turn to the visit of reigning champions Leicester Tigers next Saturday, for what will be the sides’ first clash since the Premiership semi-final last term, as well as the 250th competitive meeting of the two East Midlands rivals.

Dowson added: “It's always great, in terms of next week, to have a Derby coming to town. I'm sure the supporters will all be bang up for that, just like we will. It’s obviously a big week but we’ve got to make sure we don’t get carried away with it.

“We’ve got to make sure we prepare for that side of it but don’t over egg it too much. 

“It was a real big squad effort this week and it will be the same next week too. We trained really well throughout, and we’ll go hard again next week [against Leicester].”