Coles Urges Consistency for Northampton Saints’ Play-Off Hopes

Alex Coles, who captained Northampton Saints against Saracens due to George Furbank’s unavailability with a fractured arm, stated that the Saints must achieve “week in, week out consistency” to stand a chance of reaching the end-of-season play-offs. The Sunday defeat to Saracens marked the reigning champions’ fifth loss in eight Premiership matches this season, positioning them 10 points behind Leicester Tigers, who currently hold fourth place. Just nine days after their victory over Bulls in South Africa in the European Champions Cup, the Saints trailed 24-0 at half-time before ultimately losing the game 39-24. “The table doesn’t lie, does it?” Coles, serving as captain for the day, remarked to BBC Radio Northampton. Last season, Northampton secured 12 wins from 18 games, finishing at the top of the table, and subsequently defeated Bath at Twickenham to clinch their first title in a decade. However, to achieve a comparable number of victories, they would be required to win nine of their final 10 league matches in the ongoing campaign. Nevertheless, they will play their next two matches at home, facing Newcastle Falcons, the team directly below them in the standings, on 28 December, followed by current leaders Bath on 5 January. Coles further stated: “I’m certain we’ll get a response against Newcastle, I’m sure of it. The thing is then, can we bring it every week, when it’s not a one-off game in Europe? It’s easy to get up for those one-off games but when it’s week in, week out, attritional, in the Premiership, can we deliver every week? That’s the challenge.” Saracens registered four of their six tries during the first half, as Northampton struggled to assert control over the game at the StoneX Stadium until a late stage. Coles commented: “We didn’t win enough battles out there on the pitch, either as individuals or as a team. We didn’t look after the ball when we had it, when they had it they won it back too easily off kicks and breakdowns. We were just camped in our own half the whole time and Sarries are a good team, they’ll punish you if you give them too much field position. It’s horrible. To go away against the Bulls and produce that performance, and then produce that 40 minutes [against Saracens] is so frustrating. We know how good we can be and we’re just searching for what’s going to make us consistent every week.” He added: “The points difference was just too much. Even if we go in at the break and we’re seven points down, we’re in with a shout, but we just gave them way too much in the first half.” This situation mirrored a home game last month against Gloucester, where the Saints were defeated 25-17, having been behind 22-7 at the interval. Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson remarked: “I wouldn’t be frustrated if we weren’t any good. If we couldn’t play, we’d work hard in training and rebuild our game. We can play, we can do it right and we can get stuck in, but we didn’t.” He added regarding their schedule: “We’ll be in on Tuesday morning, Wednesday off, and then we’ll be in [for training] on Thursday afternoon – Christmas actually gets in the way.”