Saints will look into 'flat' first half, but Dowson hails 'excellent' recovery against Quins

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Phil Dowson says Saints must 'really analyse' where they went wrong in the first half against Harlequins on Friday night.

But the director of rugby praised his players for their 'excellent' second-half reaction at a sold-out cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

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Saints were eight points down at the break following a tough first half in which they gave away a huge amount of penalties.

But they bounced back in style after the interval, seemingly taking control of the game before Quins' late fightback fell just short, leaving Saints to celebrate a 33-29 success.

Nick David's high tackle on Ollie Sleightholme earned the Quins wing a yellow card and handed Saints a penalty try (photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)Nick David's high tackle on Ollie Sleightholme earned the Quins wing a yellow card and handed Saints a penalty try (photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Nick David's high tackle on Ollie Sleightholme earned the Quins wing a yellow card and handed Saints a penalty try (photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

Dowson said: "We got over the line in the end.

"We always say we don't want it to be a shootout, we don't want it to be too close and it ends up as a shootout and really close.

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"We need to work out why we came out so flat in the first half because that's clearly a concern. We couldn't get anything going and they punished us. It's something we'll have to really analyse.

"We held them up twice over the line and we were under the pump big time.

"Whenever you're under big pressure, you give penalties away, and that's why our discipline was so poor.

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"We were sat on our own line and we had to scramble, which showed how much heart there is in the group and how engaged we are, but it also shows we weren't mentally in the right place.

"It is early in the season and we haven't quite found our stride but one thing I keep saying is about the intent – and it was definitely there in the second half.

"As long as we're working incredibly hard we can put it together.

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"I was very pleased with the reaction after half-time, and in the first 20 minutes of that second half we were excellent.

"There were a number of guys who really put their hand up to have an impact on the result in that second half."

When asked what the mood was like in the Saints dressing room after the difficult first half, Dowson said: "We were very measured.

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"We sat as a coaching group and made sure we knew what we wanted to get out of half-time.

"The players aren't stupid. They know the situation and we outlined the very simple things we wanted to go after.

"We wanted to make sure we had a big pair going into it."

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