Reinach insists Saints can come back stronger

Cobus Reinach insists Saints will come back stronger after their mid-season break.
Cobus ReinachCobus Reinach
Cobus Reinach

The black, green and gold do not play again until February 16, when Bristol Bears come calling for a mouthwatering Gallagher Premiership clash at Franklin's Gardens.

But Saints were unable to sign off in style last week as they suffered a hugely disappointing 20-16 home defeat to London Irish.

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And Reinach was not pulling any punches in his assessment of the match, in which Irish scored twice in the final seven minutes to snatch the win.

"The turning point last Friday was us not pitching up for the game," said South African World Cup winner Reinach.

"It wasn't acceptable.

"We didn't play the way we wanted to play and I think we can use this as a huge learning curve.

"There's still a lot of rugby to play this season and sometimes it's good to get a big setback like that just to regather yourself, reset and go again.

"We just needed to show up as a team better.

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"There were a lot of individual errors, things not going our way and it just wasn't good enough."

The Saints players and coaches will get some time to rest before the Bristol battle, and they at least managed to retain second spot in the Premiership standings.

But Reinach knows there is plenty of improving to be done if they want to stay there or even to overhaul table-topping Exeter Chiefs, who they will meet in the Champions Cup quarter-finals in April.

"Losing before a break is not a good thing," Reinach added.

"The boys now need to recharge a bit, get back energised and we go forward."

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