Ludlam: Important lessons to be learned from Saracens loss

First-time skipper Lewis Ludlam says that first-half errors cost Northampton Saints as they fell to reigning Gallagher Premiership champions Saracens last weekend.

An early first-half deficit left Saints with too much to do at Allianz Park as they suffered their first loss in six outings to second-place Saracens and while Ludlam believes there are positives to take from the first half, there are improvements to be made.

“It’s a tough defeat to swallow,” he said. “But ultimately we weren’t good enough during the first half and made too many skill errors.

“They’re a quality outfit and they always feed off your errors, plus in defence we allowed them to get on the front foot too much.

“In the second half we got them on the back foot a bit more in defence, which really helped us as it allowed us to get into our shape and stopped them getting it to their big ball carriers.

“So, of course, this loss hurts and we’ll have to learn some lessons from it – we just left it too late to come back in the end.”

Leading Saints out for the first time was a proud moment for the 23-year-old and Ludlam said it was an honour to lead out his boyhood side.

He added: “It’s all a bit surreal for me, leading the team out the hairs on the back of my neck were standing up as this is my childhood club.

“But obviously the result is more important and this wasn’t the performance we were after, but there were loads of positives to take out of the second half in particular so we’ll be looking to kick on from there.”