Boyd savours 'great occasion' as Saints beat Gloucester in Gardens sell-out

Chris Boyd reflected on a 'good shift' from Saints as they battled to beat Gloucester 33-26 at a sold-out Franklin's Gardens.
Cobus Reinach scored twice for SaintsCobus Reinach scored twice for Saints
Cobus Reinach scored twice for Saints

Two second-half tries from Cobus Reinach and a first-half effort from Mike Haywood helped to put the black, green and control.

But Gloucester refused to go quietly and they bagged four tries, with young wing Louis Rees-Zammit scoring a hat-trick.

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It was nervy late on for Saints, especially as they suffered several injuries to players in their backline.

But they held on to ensure their unbeaten Gallagher Premiership home record remained intact.

And Boyd said: "It was a great occasion at the Gardens again just like this time last year when we beat Exeter.

"We were obviously pleased to come out on top, although as the score indicates, it was a pretty close game.

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"We took a lot of knocks and obviously we had Dan going off at half-time because he took a hit just above the knee.

"But I thought George Furbank did really well slotting in at 10.

"It was a good shift."

Saints had lost three successive games in all competitions prior to the match against Gloucester.

But Boyd said that had not entered the minds of the coaches and players during their preparation for the final match of 2019.

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"We'd put the two games against Leinster aside," he said. "We were disappointed at Sale last week.

"But there was no correlation around those matches and this one.

"We didn't beat Gloucester at all last year so we're really pleased to do that.

"We go into the new year in a reasonably good space."