Mallinder: Saints will get better

Jim Mallinder insists Saints will get better as they bid to overcome back-to-back defeats.
UPBEAT - Jim Mallinder is adamant Saints will bounce back from two defeats in six days (Picture: Linda Dawson)UPBEAT - Jim Mallinder is adamant Saints will bounce back from two defeats in six days (Picture: Linda Dawson)
UPBEAT - Jim Mallinder is adamant Saints will bounce back from two defeats in six days (Picture: Linda Dawson)

The director of rugby has seen his side frustrated by Exeter and Sale in recent weeks as a 13-match winning streak came to an end.

The 19-6 defeat at Sale on Saturday saw Saints throw their Six Nations stars straight back into the mix.

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And Mallinder is hopeful they will now start to gel, with an east midlands derby against Leicester Tigers on the agenda this Saturday.

“We need to spend some time together,” said the Saints boss. “It was a difficult ask at Sale. We played an LV= Cup final (at Exeter) on the previous Sunday so we’d only had a short period together.

“The positive is that we will get better.

“We just need time to gel a little bit. It’s difficult not getting on the front foot, which we never really did at the weekend.

“The forwards worked really hard, but credit to Sale, they defended with their lives in that second half.”

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Mallinder was without the services of Stephen Myler once again on Saturday, as the first-choice fly-half continues to fight back from a hamstring injury.

Myler was forced to pull out of the LV= Cup final at Exeter and the same scenario cropped up at Sale.

Mallinder did not want to risk him, and said: “He’s very close. We thought he would play this week, he was named, but he just felt it in team run.

“We’ve got some important games coming up.

“We’ve lost the game at Sale, but we’re not out. Coming up to Sale, we’d like to win it but not many teams do. They’ve been good here this season.

“We’ve got five games, we’re up in a very strong position and it’s down to us to bounce back.”

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