The Saints came home from the Round 3 clash in Italy with all five league points, but having turned things around themselves in previous years, Mallinder said that the players knew that the job had only been half-done.
That became complete before half-time in front of a near-capacity Franklin’s Gardens, as George North, Ken Pisi and Kahn Fotuali’i all crossed the whitewash, adding to a penalty try to secure a bonus point.
“We beat Treviso out there, and you always want to not underestimate playing the side again,” Mallinder told SaintsTV. “The lads have been really great all week, really professional. We’ve trained hard, said the right things, and then we came out and did it today.
“There’s always expectation, and it was different today because had we not got the bonus point then people would have had something to say. We always came out wanting to win, but also wanting to win very well.”
There was more to come after the break, with Pisi completing his hat trick, brother George scoring twice and Samu Manoa going over for a 13-minute threesome of his own. Ben Foden grabbed the 11th, and final, try a couple of minutes from time, but while Mallinder said that the scoring caught the eye it was an equal aim not to let Treviso onto the scoreboard, especially given the competitive nature of the pool.
“We scored some cracking tries,” he added. “It was good that we started well; the forwards got a grip of the game early on, and then we went on to play some cracking rugby. It was good that we could entertain the crowd, and the lads enjoyed it.
“And to ‘nil’ them was equally important.”
Next week’s derby may be sold out, but tickets remain on sale for the Saints’ Aviva Premiership New Year clash with Newcastle on Friday, January 2nd.
Kick off 2015 in style at Franklin’s Gardens by visiting www.tinyurl.com/SAI-NEW-1415 and following the straightforward instructions. Use Print@Home to beat the match day queues and save the admin fees, with seat selection available on any device!
