Boyd says sorry to London Irish boss Kidney after Saints secure late win

The black, green and gold turned in a largely poor performance at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens, but they eventually won the game 23-21 thanks to a late Dan Biggar penalty.

Saints had come out of the blocks at speed, taking a 17-0 lead and playing some high-tempo rugby.

But after that, Irish got a grip of the game, forcing Api Ratuniyarawa and Paul Hill into the sin bin, and eventually going 21-20 up.

Saints got the job done though, ensuring they would make it three wins from three at the start of the Gallagher Premiership season.

However, Boyd was far from happy with his side's showing.

"I just bumped into Declan Kidney, the Irish coach, and apologised for that performance and the fact we managed to sneak four points," Boyd said.

"He said 'you're too honest a man to say that to me because I know you're not sorry at all' - and I'm not sorry.

"The get-out-of-jail card we were given we were determined to give back so the only good thing about today was to take the four points and the first 15 minutes were pretty decent.

"The fact we've had three pretty tight games and we're still kicking at 100 per cent off the tee, for the three guys who have kicked (Biggar, George Furbank and James Grayson), has helped us out a bit.

"We've got a history of being inconsistent and we're consistently inconsistent.

"I don't know what it is - on a different day at a different time we'd play far better than that and lose so the fact we can get out of jail here and get our nose in front at Exeter and hold Gloucester out, it's all helping to build some sort of belief.

"Really, it's not good enough and some of the penalties we gave away were braindead.

"There will be some guys squirming in their seats when we do our review on Monday because we can't keep keeping other teams in the game."