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Ludlam: Saints must keep energy in top-four race

Captain Lewis Ludlam insists Northampton Saints should relish the challenge of reclaiming a spot in the Gallagher Premiership top four, following their 37 – 22 loss at London Irish on Saturday. 

Saints dropped out of a qualification spot for the semi-finals as they were beaten by the Exiles, who moved above them into fourth in the table and now sit three points ahead of them. 

It means the men in Black, Green and Gold are in a similar position they found themselves during last season’s run-in, in that they know they can no longer afford any more slip-ups. 

They have two games of the regular season remaining and although the first one of those, at home to Saracens, is over two weeks away, Ludlam says focus has already shifted to what will be a make-or-break April. 

“We understand the situation we’re in at the back of our minds,” he said. 

“However, it is important that that doesn’t take away our energy and that we don’t feel the pressure of it.

“I think we should enjoy that pressure, we should enjoy that challenge because we know now that we need to win to give ourselves the best chance possible. 

“It might be out of our hands, but the next game is most important and we need to be better for it.”

Lewis Ludlam

Ludlam feels Saints were unable to prevent Irish from building momentum effectively enough, as the hosts controlled the majority of the contest at the Gtech Community Stadium. 

That was a particular problem in the first 20 minutes in Brentford, none more so when Exiles back rower Tom Pearson was allowed to slip through several attempted tackles in scoring the second of his side’s four tries. 

Ludlam said: “I think our energy was probably in the wrong place. We didn’t stop their momentum well enough. 

“I think we were urgent, but we folded to the wrong places too quickly, so we’ve got lads overworking, going to blindsides and leaving holes through the middle, where it was impossible to win collisions. 

“I don’t think there’s a lack of effort there at all, I think there’s a lack of mental processing, just to understand and see the picture as quickly as possible and go and execute the plan as well, which we didn’t do well enough today.” 

Another source of frustration was how Saints were unable to build on the two occasions they fought their way back into a game where they by and large lived on scraps in terms of possession and territory. 

Tommy Freeman’s brilliant individual try just after the hour mark reduced Irish’s lead to 24-17, but instead of a grandstand finish, the match was effectively taken away from Phil Dowson’s side when the home side struck again within four minutes. 

Ludlam, who went on to score a consolation try in the closing stages, said: “The best teams go over and over again and keep the pressure on and double up on positives, and unfortunately, we didn’t do that well enough today. 

“You saw we got positive and then we allowed them back into the game with a breakaway try and left ourselves with too much to do. 

“I think we’ve shown there in spells that we can defend well, we’ve shown there in spells we can attack brilliantly, we can score tries. 

“However, that needs to be a constant, that needs to be a thing that never goes away if we want to be winning these games.”

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