Dowson: We’re only seeing glimpses of what Saints can do

Director of Rugby Phil Dowson insists there is plenty more to come from his Northampton Saints side, despite picking up back-to-back bonus-point wins in the Gallagher Premiership.

The men in Black, Green and Gold beat Newcastle Falcons 32-31 on Saturday afternoon at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, but were made to work hard in the closing stages after giving up healthy leads at 13-0 and then 32-14.

On his 50th appearance for Saints, Ollie Sleightholme crossed the whitewash either side of half-time for a brace of tries, while Sam Matavesi, Juarno Augustus and Tom Collins were also on the scoresheet.

But it was again an inconsistent performance over the 80 minutes from Northampton, as it was in a win at Wasps the weekend previous, and Dowson admits that is his biggest frustration at the moment.

“I’d quite like a game where we are more than a score ahead at the end,” he said. “It was frustrating that we had so many opportunities to put that game away, but we didn’t.

“We let them come back into it and it becomes a flip of a coin – if we do that too often, we’ll get turned over, like we did at Quins and at Sale.

“But we’re not quite hitting our straps – anyone can see that and the players will tell you that – and that’s what’s really frustrating because we think we can be really good but we’re not quite getting there yet.

“We’re seeing glimpses of it, we’re just not seeing it in consistent patterns, but I’m upbeat and positive about where we are.”

Newcastle’s late comeback thanks to tries from Mateo Carreras, Jamie Blamire and George Wacokecoke had the home crowd on the edge of their seats during the closing moments of the game.

While Saints saw out the final nine minutes of the contest well, controlling possession and territory before sealing a maximum Gallagher Premiership point hall with a breakdown penalty as the clock ticked into the red, Dowson knows that with a trip to Bath looming next weekend his side need to find a way to improve in a few key areas.

He added: “We’ve tried to make sure we improve from last year to this year and we’re currently not doing as well as we’d like to, but it’s not through lack of effort.

“Sometimes when we play in the wrong areas or at the wrong time, it gives them chances to play in our half. Some of it comes from decision-making and knowing when to be more pragmatic.

“We’re not efficient enough at converting our pressure into points, and we were too easy to score against, conceding way too many points. We acknowledge those things are not good enough, but at the same time, we showed good character to stick in there in the final moments of the game.”