With Saints taking their first win in five games last night as they hosted Sale Sharks in the eleventh round of the Aviva Premiership.
Jim Mallinder said that his side responded well to two tough weekend’s in the European Champions Cup and praised the players coming back into the squad for their commitment to the side.
“Last week was a very, very disappointing game,” Mallinder commented after last night’s game.
“But with a few of the lads having a bit of a break, I thought they were brilliant coming back in.
“It’s been a fairly busy few weeks but that’s what it’s like sometimes in competitive rugby and sometimes you have a couple of good weeks where you’re winning and cosy and comfortable and sometimes you have weeks which are challenging. It’s no different to normal life.
“It’s not always plain sailing but you take the job on and its what you’ve got to expect. We take the rough with the smooth.”
Mallinder said that to get the win heading into the New Year would build good momentum for the side as they hope to build on last night’s performance over the coming weeks.
“For us a win is a good first step to getting back to where we want to be but we can’t lose focus, we’ve got two really important games coming up starting with Gloucester away.
“We head first to Kingsholm which is winnable but tough, and they’re in a similar position to us, they’re not playing particularly well but have got a massive fan base, so they’re very, very similar.
“And of course then we come back here with Bristol and if we can get two more wins then we really are starting to move up and that would be a huge positive for the club.
“You’ve just got to build and you start with the next game as it comes.”
