'I think we’re good at it': Phil Dowson on what made difference for Saints

Head coach Phil Dowson hailed the winning mentality of his Northampton Saints players after Fin Smith’s late try snatched a 35-28 win against Exeter Chiefs.

Exeter looked to have salvaged a draw when replacement winger Paul

Brown-Bampoe scored a charge down try in the 78th minute, converted by Henry Slade.

But Smith’s try won it at the death for the Premiership leaders and Dowson was delighted with his side’s determination to force a win at Sandy Park.

“We stuck at it again in what was another proper game,” said Dowson.

“It’s fine margins, but I like the way we carried on playing, carrying that pressure and having that belief we could get over.

“We’ve got a lot of trust in our attacking system and we have that intent to go and try and score – and I think we’re good at it. The belief to continue to play despite being under pressure was excellent.”

Saints’ outside centre Tom Litchfield was given man of the match, and Dowson added: “Tom was brilliant, he gives us go forward, has a great skill set and he just goes about his business quietly. I was delighted he got man of the match.”

Chiefs managed to pick up two bonus points in defeat to put them four ahead of Bristol Bears in the final play-off spot with five matches remaining and director of rugby Rob Baxter was keen to take the positives from their performance.

“The lads are walking around looking a bit despondent but we are still in fourth place, and if we keep winning we will stay in the top four,” said Baxter.

“The season is still in our hands, we are in a European semi-final in two weeks’ time and we are still fighting in the Prem.

“We have helped prepare ourselves with the way we have played against Northampton today, because I think the next time we play them we will be better, though they will probably say the same.”

Baxter pointed the finger of blame at himself for the loss in a ding-dong game where there was never more than seven points between the two sides.

“I am a little bit annoyed with myself as we did a lot right, and a lot of our prep was right, but maybe we got a little too edgy or too nervous to play really well.

“Outside of the endeavour and the energy and fight we showed, creating a couple of good tries early on, it was actually quite a scrappy game, and when we had possession, we gave it up easily in a variety of ways.”

Exeter lost two of their stalwarts – hooker Jack Yeandle and full-back Olly Woodburn – to injury during the match.

Baxter added: “That is clearly the downside as both injuries look relatively serious, or don’t look short term at least. They are not going to be fit for next week or the week after, so we have got some rejigging to do there.”