Northampton Saints’ match-day captain for the 33-33 clash with Exeter Chiefs, Fraser Dingwall, provided an honest assessment of the side’s performance in a disappointing opening fixture of the Gallagher PREM.
In front of a packed-out cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, the men in Black, Green and Gold got out to a commanding 33-7 lead at half-time thanks to a brace from 19-year-old Edoardo Todaro in his opening 40 minutes of PREM rugby as well as tries from Alex Coles, Tom Pearson and Tom Litchfield.
However, the South-Western rivals pulled the game back in their favour and managed to come away sharing the spoils at full-time, much to the disappointment of Dingwall.
“It was a game of two halves, and unfortunately, we opened the door for them in the second half,” Dingwall explained.
“We went away from all of the good stuff we did in the first half, and momentum in sport is a tough thing to contain at times, so it was really disappointing to be honest.
“It was just heavily frustrating, and we'll be very honest about it. And it just shows the level you have to be at all times in this league, and hopefully that’s a stern lesson for a lot of lads.”
Fraser Dingwall
Exeter scored 26 unanswered points in the second period, and despite Saints’ commanding position at the break, they come away from Round 1 of the PREM with three points in the league.
“I think we stopped valuing the stuff that got us into such a good spot in the first half,” the centre continued.
“We became loose with the ball, and we gave them lots of opportunities on turnover through either loose kicks or turnovers in possession. That just allowed them to use their dangerous back three and catch us in transition and move the game up the pitch really easily.
“I don’t think we really controlled much of the territory at all. I can’t think of us playing much in their 22, so there are loads of things that stack up and all of a sudden it very quickly became for them about how much of a comeback it could have been.
“That momentum can become really hard to contain. The only way I can see it being fixed is up top; it isn't so much physical, it’s about mindset.
“There were parts of the game where we didn’t move the game up the pitch early enough, and we played multiple phases, not really going anywhere, and we could have moved up earlier.
“The horrible thing about is that the first half was really good, and we did loads of great stuff, and we were as great as abrasive and as combative as we want to be.“
Fraser Dingwall
“But you’ve got to do it for 80 minutes, because every team in this league can punish you if you’re not at a place where you’re ready to scrap.”
Saints now look ahead to their first away trip of the Gallagher PREM season as they take on Gloucester at Kingsholm on Sunday (5 October, kick-off 3pm).
“Gloucester are a talented side that want to move the ball,” Dingwall added on their next opposition.
“I think we’ll be eagerly excited to get our season away from home started, because that was an issue for us last season and what a place to go and kick it off and hopefully go kick the door down at Kingsholm.
“Our away form is something we’ve had to put a lot of focus on this year. We’ll reflect on this game, and we’ll take earnings from it. All you can do is turn up on the next training day and fly into another week.”
