Coach Jim Mallinder has paid tribute to 'outstanding' skipper Bruce Reihana following Northampton's 40-22 victory over Gloucester.
Skipper has desire and attitude to be a winner says Mallinder
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder has paid tribute to 'outstanding' skipper Bruce Reihana after inspiring his side to a 40-22 victory over Gloucester on Saturday.
Man-of-the-match Reihana, who has returned to the Saints line-up on the left-wing after losing his full-back spot to England hopeful Ben Foden, scored one try and created two more during the game.
"This year he has been one of our consistent good performers and he was outstanding today," said Mallinder.
"He's played a lot of his rugby for Northampton at full-back but he's played for the All Blacks on the wing so we know he's equally adept and happy playing there."
"Bruce just has this desire and attitude that he wants to be a winner and it's no coincidence he plays like that on a Saturday because he's one of the hardest-working players at the club,"
Northampton are chasing Heineken Cup qualification on two fronts in their first season back in the Premiership, both in the league and the European Challenge Cup, where they take on Irish side Connacht next Saturday.
Disappointed
Mallinder added: "That's a big game for us and then we'll look to finish the season well in the league, against London Irish at home and Sale away."
Gloucester director of rugby Dean Ryan said he was disappointed with his side's performance just a week after beating Welsh giants Ospreys to reach the EDF Energy Cup final.
"We lacked any intensity, certainly in the first half," he said. "We paid the penalty in the second half for our performance in the first."
"We were to easy to breach. There were times when they opened us up quite easily and we just can't afford to do that away from home.
"We went from one week when we nilled the Ospreys to suddenly finding that we could quite easily be opened up from anywhere.
"We tried to make substitutions to change that but there's no excuse.
Battle
"We can't come into a league game where the stakes were on for Gloucester and lack that level of intensity. We let something slip today and leaked far too easily."
Ryan refused to blame the defeat on missing England internationals Mike Tindall, James Simpson-Daniel and Iain Balshaw, who were all injured against the Ospreys.
But he admitted that his side were now facing an uphill battle to finish in the top four.
"Nothing's out of the question, he said. "But we can't go on with this sort of yo-yo performances.
"We were lacking a lot of quality but that's the nature of a squad.
"Some of it's been compounded by injuries but some of it we've got to take responsibility for."