Dowson proud of courageous Saints after bounce-back win

Director of Rugby Phil Dowson tipped his cap to a performance full of ‘energy and bravery’ from Northampton Saints as they downed Bath Rugby 45-26 on Friday evening.

The men in Black, Green and Gold were looking to bounce back from their worst performance of the season seven days’ previously, and did so in some style by running in six tries at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Robbie Smith scooped the man-of-the-match award with a try double and an accomplished performance around the park, but Juarno Augustus, Angus Scott-Young, Tom Collins and James Grayson also got on the scoresheet with fly-half Fin Smith adding a flawless 15 points from the kicking tee.

It had been a challenging week for Saints’ squad following a record defeat by Bristol Bears, but the five-point win saw Northampton surge back to third in the race for the Gallagher Premiership play-offs with just three matches of their season remaining.

“We talked this week about having a reaction and it showed in lots of different ways,” said Dowson. “It clearly wasn’t perfect, but the boys deserve a lot of credit for that week.

“We had to make sure last week was an anomaly and it wasn’t the norm. We wanted to get back here and show what we were about.

“We’ve been working particularly hard up front because that forward area is vital. Clearly our maul defence still needs a lot of work because Bath got some entries in that way.

“But I’m delighted for [forwards coach] James Craig and all of the forwards because all that work on the back pitch kicking lumps out of each other came to fruition, and when it happens against a big pack in a game it’s very positive.

“We still tried things, we still tried to get the ball into space wherever that was. There’s still things we need to work on in defence and in terms of the maul tries, but overall it was great to see the hard work in training paying off.”

Saints now enjoy a week away from Gallagher Premiership action, with their next fixture away at in-form London Irish in a fortnight crucial for their semi-final hopes.

After four league games in as many weeks, Northampton will now play their next two matches (against the Exiles and Saracens) over a five-week period, and Dowson admits the coaching team will be managing the squad’s training time and preparation carefully over the next month.

He said: “The table is ridiculous in terms of how tight it is. I had a quick look last night and quickly turned it off because it’s too tight to make any predictions moving forward.

“We wanted a reaction from a performance point of view and now we’ve got two weeks to prepare for the game at London Irish.

“Our away form hasn’t been up to scratch so that’s what we’re looking to improve. We were hoping to try to chase Sale down, but then we had that result against Bristol.

“The table is so tight and it’s all to play for. We’ve just got to make sure we focus on our performance.

“We’re going to continue to train this week, keep rolling through and make sure we’re set up for that game at Irish – the lads will get a break week after that one.”