Phil Dowson was pleased to see a performance that reflected more of what he expects from his Northampton Saints side, with the Director of Rugby admitting Saints looked more like themselves as they defeated Sale Sharks 24-10 on Friday.
Tries from Burger Odendaal, Ollie Sleightholme and Trevor Davison put Northampton ahead at the break; and while Sale has sent Rob Du Preez and Tom O’Flaherty over in the first-half, Saints kept them scoreless in the second 40 and added a fourth try through Ewan Baker to seal the win.
A last chance to finetune ahead of the Gallagher Premiership getting back underway when Saints travel to Bristol Bears next Friday (22 March, kick-off: 7.45pm), the exhibition clash proved useful for Dowson’s men as they look to pick up where they left off before the Six Nations hiatus.
"What we talked about last week was that the Stormers match was like a pre-season game, we needed to blow the cobwebs off," Dowson said. "There were some things we were disappointed with, some things we were really happy with.
"There was lots of that against Sale, more that really looked like us. We were a bit sharper and a bit more urgent and a bit more on page with our plan, so we're pleased with the night.”
Phil Dowson, Director of Rugby
“There's still loads to do, lots of lads to welcome back into the environment and we've got to make sure we do that really well and prepare for Bristol.
"Hopefully Sale got what they needed out of it too and it's minutes in the bank for people like Tom Seabrook, James Ramm, George Hendy, Courts [Courtney Lawes] so we're as prepared as we can be for Bristol."
Perfect prep 🤝
— Northampton Saints 😇 (@SaintsRugby) March 16, 2024
Enjoy highlights as Saints and Sale finalised their preparations for the return of @premrugby under the FNL ✨ pic.twitter.com/nJH1jEOT7c
And while Dowson was happy with the whole squad effort against Sharks, there were a few names that stuck out for the Director of Rugby.
"I thought Temo Mayanavanua was excellent," said Dowson.
"And I thought Jonny Weimann on debut, coming on as a 17-year-old at the end there was brilliant.
"There were lots of really good parts of the game. Burger (Odendaal) was excellent again, and Tom Litchfield as well. There were lots of really positive performances."
But now all attentions turn back to the Premiership – where Saints sit top of the table, seven points clear of second-place Harlequins – and with just six rounds of the regular season remaining, Dowson knows the serious work starts now as the run-in begins.
He continued: “I don’t think the match with Sale was unserious, but the level goes up again in terms of that competitiveness next week.
“We know exactly what Bristol can bring and we’ll make sure we prepare appropriately.
“There’s still a way to go and we need to make sure we’ve got enough of a kick left to finish with a sprint.”
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