Dowson impressed with props as duo make Saints debut against Harlequins
Phil Dowson has praised prop duo Jordan Els and Aiden Reid after they made their Saints debuts against Harlequins on Saturday.
With Manny Iyogun and Danilo Fischetti rested and Oliver Scola and Lefty Zigiriadis having been added to the injury list last week, Els came in to start against his former club at the Twickenham Stoop.
It was a first appearance for Saints for the 29-year-old, who left Quins during the summer after making 54 appearances for the London club.
Reid, a Northampton School for Boys and Saints Academy product, provided cover from the bench, coming on after 51 minutes.
And the youngster, who was recently named in England Under-20s’ Elite Player Squad, certainly held his own, showing just why he is so highly rated.
“There were loads of people (who impressed),” said Saints boss Dowson.
"Jordan Els, who was at Quins, was making his debut for us, it was a big ask because hadn’t played for a while but I thought he was excellent, winning scrum penalties.
"Likewise Aiden Reid, coming on, on debut, a young man who has been very impressive in pre-season to get his opportunity.
"Aiden played for Hinckley last week on his loan programme, and playing for us this week I thought he was excellent as well.”
Saints had been battling illness in the camp during the opening couple of weeks of the campaign, but Dowson isn’t using that as a reason for the two defeats so far.
He said: “It has been (disruptive) but these are the things you have to deal with.
"We trained hard regardless and we made no excuses – we weren’t good enough in this game.
"But at this stage of the season, we’re learning a lot about this group of players and trying to install things from a technical point of view and a cultural point of view.
"There was loads to take from this game.”