Pisi: We were going through motions at Saints

WINGER Ken Pisi admits Northampton’s players had been “going through the motions” before Jim Mallinder’s pre-Christmas dismissal.

An instant revival under Aussie caretaker boss Alan Gaffney saw Saints win four out of five matches, reaching the Anglo-Welsh Cup semi-finals and rekindling hopes of a top six league finish.

Long-serving Pisi, who has notched five tries since New Year, believes change was required, saying: “Things needed freshening up. We’d been kind of going through the motions and something new was good for all of us.

“Sometimes it’s just a new voice, a new message, and Alan Gaffney’s arrival has been good. I’m enjoying my rugby again and it’s good when you’re winning.”

Pisi added: “Alan’s focus has been on the basics – catch, pass and straighten up. We’d been trying to do a lot of fancy stuff but it wasn’t really working, so we just want to continue what we’re doing now and get back into a good league position.

“Alan’s brought real dynamism to our game and worked well alongside Alan Dickens, Phil Dowson and our other existing coaches.

“They’ve brought a new way of doing things and with Heinrich Brussow now joining us, we know we’ve got a squad capable of pushing up this league.”

Pisi admits seeing his older brother George, with whom he had played at Saints since 2012, return to New Zealand last summer took time to adjust to.

“It was hard seeing him go and I found it hard to find form earlier in the season, but I’m getting used to it now and I’m happy to be starting again. There’s a lot of competition in our back three with George North, Tom Collins, Ahsee Tuala and Ben Foden but I’ve enjoyed the last month; we’re creating chances and scoring tries again – something we struggled to do before Alan came.”

Pisi added: “We can’t be too proud of what we’ve done recently, but we’re certainly in a better position than we were a couple of months ago.”