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Why Phil Dowson was 'a bit annoyed' despite Saints sealing home semi-final
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Despite securing a home semi-final berth, Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson was far from happy as his error-ridden side scraped home 36-32 against a spirited Gloucester in a lively game at Franklin’s Gardens.
Northampton had to rely on a 79th-minute try from their departing captain George Furbank to deprive Gloucester of producing one of the shock results of the season.
Northampton’s tries came from George Hendy, Rory Hutchinson, Tommy Freeman, Sam Graham, Furbank and Fin Smith, with Smith adding three conversions.
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Deian Gwynne, Ollie Thorley, Seb Atkinson, Max Llewellyn and Ben Loader scored Gloucester’s tries with Charlie Atkinson converting two and adding a penalty.
Dowson said: “I’m a bit annoyed at the moment as we weren’t at it today as there were loads of uncharacteristic errors at it didn’t look as though we had the right mindset.
“It was very hard work and Gloucester played well but we weren’t clinical or precise enough but obviously I’m pleased to secure a home semi-final.
“We will assess our team medically but we need to produce a decent performance away at Quins next week as we want to go into the semi-final with some form of momentum.”
Saints centre Hutchinson became the 82nd player to reach 200 appearances for the club and he celebrated by scoring one of his side’s six tries.
He said: “Our performance was disappointing and we can’t put a finger on it why it was.
“However, we read a stat in the week that 86 per cent of the PREM semi-finals are won by the home side so it was important that we showed the consistency to reach that goal.”
Gloucester picked up a valuable two points in their quest for European Cup rugby for next season and with a home game against Newcastle to come in their final fixture, they are in pole position to pip Harlequins for the final berth.
Their director of rugby George Skivington was still deflated, believing his side should have got more from the game.
He said: “It’s gutting at the way it panned out as we were in a really good position to win it.
“Still I’m incredibly proud of the boys as we were unbelievable today and I take a lot of pride from what we achieved.
“The crowd started booing us when he elected to kick that penalty as they knew we had them on the ropes.
“The game showed potentially where we could be as our game management has improved greatly with both half-backs, Charlie Atkinson and Caolan Englefield, developing really well over the last month.”
