‘Soft’ slur springs under-fire Saints back into action
Luther Burrell has claimed that a brutal team meeting, during which the Northampton Saints players were branded as “soft” was the critical factor in the side’s victory over Leicester Tigers in what proved to be a one-sided East Midlands derby.
Burrell revealed that the fierce criticism by Jim Mallinder, the club’s director of rugby, in the wake of the “embarrassing” defeat by Saracens in the opening round provoked the reaction from the players that enabled Northampton to completely dominate the collisions and ball-carrying statistics.
Burrell scored one of his side’s two first-half tries that laid the foundation for this ultimately comfortable win that ended a run of seven successive defeats in all competitions against their old rivals, who find themselves at the wrong end of the table, without a win after two rounds.
Dylan Hartley, the England captain, who also scored before the interval, and international team-mate Courtney Lawes, spearheaded Northampton’s revival with menacing displays that would have ensured national head coach Eddie Jones left Franklin’s Gardens in good heart on Saturday.
There was another impressive finish by Tom Collins for a secondhalf try, while Harry Mallinder kicked a penalty and three conversions. “When you come in on Monday morning and your coaches are fuming with you and calling you soft, ultimately as a player you have got to react,” said Burrell.
“You don’t want to upset your director (of rugby), you don’t want to be called soft.’’
Saints boss Mallinder hopes the performance will prove a launch pad for their campaign, and was more reflective of their pre-season form. “We had to respond like that, there was no other way,’’ he said.
“You could tell from the first minute we were up for it. The pack were outstanding.”
For Leicester, the visit of Gloucester on Saturday is now of great importance for director of rugby Matt O’connor, who must be concerned that a third successive defeat would leave his side with potentially too much ground to make up in the top-four race.
The only highlight was a late try by Jonny May, with their only other points coming from two penalties by George Ford.