Dickens delighted as Saints back up Quins win

Assistant coach Alan Dickens reflected on a '˜really pleasing' two weeks after Saints backed up their win at Harlequins with a stirring success against London Irish.
Lee Dickson scored Saints' fifth try in the win against London Irish (picture: Sharon Lucey)Lee Dickson scored Saints' fifth try in the win against London Irish (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Lee Dickson scored Saints' fifth try in the win against London Irish (picture: Sharon Lucey)

The home team registered five tries as they routed the men from the Madejski Stadium 35-7 at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday afternoon.

The victory, which was revenge for the Boxing Day defeat at Irish, takes Saints up to fifth, two points behind fourth-placed Harlequins and three adrift of third-placed Leicester Tigers.

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Not only that, but Northampton appear to have their confidence back, with that stunning late 27-23 win at Quins seeing a mentality change.

“It’s really pleasing,” Dickens said.

“Two weeks ago here on the Friday night against Wasps all of us inside the stadium were disappointed with the performance.

“The last two weeks have been really positive for us and to do that today in front of the crowd and in front of the Barwells, having opened the new stand, was a good feat.

“We’re really pleased.”

As Dickens alludes to, Saints officially opened the new Barwell Stand before the game, with a host of ex-players present.

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Keith Barwell was also in attendance and Dickens was delighted to see the players produce a performance the former chairman and his family could be proud of.

“It was a fitting day with the opening of the stand,” Dickens said.

“We had a lot of former players and I saw them going round the pitch at the start of the match.

“I’m sure for someone like Keith, it would only be a good day if we got the result, and we did that for him today.”