West: No hiding at Saints after disappointing start

Dorian West says no one at Saints is hiding after a disappointing start to the season.
Dorian West expects a big reaction from Saints (picture: Sharon Lucey)Dorian West expects a big reaction from Saints (picture: Sharon Lucey)
Dorian West expects a big reaction from Saints (picture: Sharon Lucey)

And the forwards coach insists form will improve at Franklin’s Gardens.

Saints host Gloucester on Friday night, bidding to bounce back from last Saturday’s 41-7 Champions Cup evisceration at Castres.

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It was a fifth defeat in eight games for Jim Mallinder’s men, who have struggled to get going so far.

But West said: “We’ll be better and we need to be better.

“We were poor last week in a lot of areas, but we’ve not shied away from that.

“We’ve talked about the bits and bobs we need to do better and we’re working hard on that.

“It’s a short turnaround and sometimes that’s good after a defeat like that.

“We need a reaction.

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“We don’t bury our heads in the sand, we know what we need to do, we’re desperate to win and we’ll work as hard as we need to to try to achieve that.

West expects ninth-placed Saints to come out firing against the side directly below them in the Aviva Premiership standings.

He said: “You expect that (a reaction) - and that’s probably what Castres were saying to their players last week after a heavy defeat in Leinster.

“We talked a lot about it, I’m really pleased with how we’ve trained and the second team played really well on Monday.

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“It’s good to get back on the same page and we’ll be working hard for a result this week.”

When asked whether Saints’ poor form has even surprised the coaches, West said: “Exactly.

“Everyone in the league is trying to be the best they can be, and not everyone can win every week.

“We’ve been used to that (winning) over the years here, we’ve had a lot of success and been very consistent.

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“For whatever reason, we’re inconsistent at the minute and we need to solve that with hard work.”

And West says everyone at Saints is taking responsibility for recent results.

“We’ve all got a part to play in it,” he said.

“We’re all trying our best and we’re all desperate to win games and be the best club. You can’t always be that, but that’s what we’re striving for.

“We want to be as good as we can and we know we’ve had a change in our coaching and that sometimes takes a bit of time.

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“But we can’t be working any harder than we are to nail things down.

“We’ve had some really good training this week and hopefully that will take us forward into Friday and we’ll have a good performance.”

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