Christian Day remained modest at stadiummk despite coming off the pitch with two tries to his name that set up the Saints’ Aviva Premiership bonus point win over Newcastle.
The scores came at crucial times, the first in the match’s opening minutes and the second coming soon after Todd Clever’s yellow card had reduced the visitors’ pack to seven men.
Day is a pivotal figure in the Saints’ lineout, but he credited the work of those around him in setting up the five-pointers.
“Both tries were the result of hard work by the rest of the forwards; even Lee Dickson was involved in the second one!” he told SaintsTV. “I was just the lucky guy holding the ball. It was very much down to the unit skill that we work very hard on and it paid off.”
Day’s first try came after Saints set their stall out early, sending a penalty to the corner for the forwards to have a go at the Falcons’ pack. It was a statement of intent from the hosts, but should not be taken as a surprise, according to the England Saxon.
“You look at where you are on the pitch, and if the kick’s not a complete gimme why not put it into the corner?” he added. “Why not use one of your strengths and put the opposition under pressure when you’re at home?
“It was the call that was made, and the forwards switched into what we do every Tuesday and went to work. We had two goes at it after the first one brought a penalty we went again and I was one who got the ball.
“It was something we neglected at Worcester last week and we brought it into play this week.”
Watch the full interview with Christian Day, along with post-match reaction from Jim Mallinder and Ben Foden, at www.youtube.com/TheSaintsTV.
The Saints are on the road next weekend, but return to Franklin’s Gardens for two games in two weeks against Saracens (Nov 7th) and the Scarlets (Nov 14th). Tickets are on sale now for both matches at www.northamptonsaints.co.uk/buytickets, and by using Print@Home supporters can save themselves the admin fees and beat the match day queues.
