Dickens admits season has been 'disappointing' for Saints

Alan Dickens admits Saints have endured a 'disappointing' season.
Saints scored four tries as they saw off Worcester Warriors on Saturday (picture: Sharon Lucey)Saints scored four tries as they saw off Worcester Warriors on Saturday (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Saints scored four tries as they saw off Worcester Warriors on Saturday (picture: Sharon Lucey)

But he was happy that they were able to end it on a high by bagging a bonus-point 32-24 win against Worcester Warriors at Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.Tries from Mitch Eadie, Nafi Tuitavake, Tom Collins and the departing Ben Foden ensured the 17 players who will be exiting Northampton this summer finished with a flourish.Saints finished ninth in the Aviva Premiership, winning just eight of their 22 league games during the 2017/18 campaign.

They were eliminated from the Champions Cup at the pool stages and lost in the semi-finals of the Anglo-Welsh Cup.And Dickens, who took over as interim head coach following the dismissal of director of rugby Jim Mallinder in December, said: “Ultimately, it is disappointing.“I look back at the games against Saracens and they put us away convincingly. I think it was just an element of confidence and we have not had that to win those type of games.“But we have finished well and we have to be pleased with Saturday.“We talked a few weeks ago of having some good games and then that bleeding into pre-season and next season. "We are just not where we want to be. We finished ninth and we want to be challenging for silverware at the end of the season.”Saints were 14-0 down inside 12 minutes against Worcester, but they bounced back well after Foden returned from the sin bin.“We made our own downfall in the first 10 or 15 minutes," Dickens said. "We were loose at the kick-off, lost possession and they put us under pressure.“Foden got a yellow card and they scored 14 points while he was off the pitch but credit to the players, we got back in it during the first 20 minutes of the second half.”

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