Phil Dowson says there are plenty of positives to take from Northampton Saints’ final preseason clash, despite the men in Black, Green and Gold coming out on the wrong side of the 40-31 scoreline against Glasgow Warriors.
Saints shot out to an early lead at Scotstoun, thanks to scores from Callum Chick and Tom Pearson on their first outings of the season. And though Northampton would score three more as Pearson claimed a brace alongside a returning George Hendy, the back and forth clash eventually ended the way of the hosts.
Despite the final score, Dowson was optimistic about his side’s performance and will be looking to build upon the positives in Glasgow as Saints’ season picks up.
“We’ve talked a lot about our performance and the game doesn’t lie,” Dowson said. “We knew we would find out a lot about our group and where we need to improve.
“There was lots that was positive about the game; I thought some of the first half was excellent and there were lots of young fellas there getting experience of what it takes to compete at this level.”
Phil Dowson, Saints’ director of rugby
“It’s hard to keep the level high when you’re making so many changes in games and we put pressure on the lads in terms of putting them in different positions to make sure we’re really adaptable.
“It’s tricky and it’s something that hopefully over the next couple of weeks will iron itself out with longer minutes, smaller benches and fewer changes.
“We want to make sure we continue to step it up, and Saracens next week will be another step up.
“We’re slowly building and I think we’re in a good space.”
The game marked Saints’ final friendly match-up before they head into the PREM Rugby Cup next week, beginning their campaign with a trip to Saracens on Friday (19 September, kick-off: 7.30pm).
And as such, there were several Northampton players making their first appearances of the term – such as the three try scorers in newcomer Chick and longer-term Saints Pearson and Hendy.
Of those fresh faces, Dowson said: “Lots of guys hadn’t played for a long time and it was the first game of the season for guys like Hutch (Rory Hutchinson) and Manny (Emmanuel Iyogun).
“We had guys playing for the first time like Danilo Fischetti, Chicky and Cleopas Kundiona. I thought they were all excellent and they’ve fitted in so well.”
With Saints heading firmly back into regular season rugby next week, and the Gallagher PREM season ramping up in earnest off the back of Northampton’s trip to Saracens, Dowson is hoping to welcome more players back into the fold in the coming weeks.
On selection, Dowson said: “It’s obviously injury dependent and we’ve got to get through a couple of training days, England training days as well, so we’ll wait and see how people come out of that.
“We’ll wait and see what the outcome was from this game and we’ll make a decision with all roads leading to PREM Round 1 (against Exeter Chiefs on Sunday 28 September).”
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