'We need nights like this' - win over Nottingham was a perfect lesson for Saints

The black, green and gold blend of youth and experience showed great fighting spirit to overturn a 26-5 half-time deficit and claim a 31-29 victory at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

Saints were extremely flat during the first half but they got fired up after the break to turn the tables on their determined Championship opponents.

Assistant coach Craig said: "The first half was one of the worst halves of rugby we've played this year so we didn't want to repeat that.

"We had been too loose with the ball and when you're loose with the ball, you're going to have to defend for long spells.

"And we were too soft defensively in that first half, which will sting a little bit for the lads so there will be lessons there.

"Things definitely needed saying at half-time, they were said, and the lads responded really well in the second half, eventually playing how we expected them to play in the first half.

"We saw plenty of attacking intent and ability with the ball.

"Yes, mistakes are going to happen and we weren't as accurate as we want to be in the future, but there were some great signs of lads trying to do our game as well as they possibly could.

"They need nights like this to show where they're at and where they need to develop their game.

"To take the next step up, you need to be more accurate and better at executing your skill.

"We had five debutants in this match and plenty more last week so these past two weeks have been great to get those lads debuts and time in a Saints shirt with lots of experienced players around them.

"They haven't just been chucked in with other Academy guys and they will have learned a lot in the past two weeks.

"We've picked up two bonus-point wins as well so that's really positive."