The one area Northampton boss was 'particularly pleased' with in ugly rout

Northampton director of rugby Phil Dowson has warned his players they will have to be “a lot better” in round two of the Heineken Champions Cup when they meet Munster in a repeat of the 2000 final.

The Saints were blown away by a blistering first-half performance from reigning champions La Rochelle at Stade Marcel Deflandre and found themselves trailing 32-0 at the break. The champions had already bagged a try bonus point by that stage and went on to add two more tries at the start of the second half before going on to win 46-12.

“I’m very disappointed with that result, particularly conceding 32 points in the first half and not answering,” said Dowson.

“Mistakes at this level get punished by good sides and we had to take that in the first half. We fought incredibly hard in the second half, and we stuck at it.

“I was particularly pleased with the scrum, but to concede that many points in the first half on the back of ill-discipline is very disappointing.”

The score rose to 46-0 before La Rochelle emptied their subs bench and disrupted their rhythm. Dowson used his own bench well and his side got stronger as the game wore on, only losing the second half 14-12.

“The bench was good and we wanted to bring on some energy late on. Courtney Lawes coming back was excellent,” added Dowson.

“The second-half performance was better, and it was 14-12. They scored two tries – one was a charge down and the other one we passed the ball to them. The second half was way better, but it was 40 minutes late.”

Saints meet Munster at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday and will need to come up with something better if they are to progress in the Champions Cup.

“We have only got one option ahead of the Munster match and that is to get better. I say the same thing every week, we have to make sure we learn the lessons and get better moving forward,” said Dowson.

“We need to encourage those things that were positive and make sure against Munster we are a lot better.”

For La Rochelle it was a 10th game unbeaten in the tournament and a statement of intent by Ronan O’Gara’s team as they launch the defence of their crown. Only four teams have won back-to-back titles since the first final in 1996 – Leicester, Leinster, Toulon and Saracens.

“It was a really good start and our forwards laid an extremely good platform for us to work off. It always starts up front with them,” said New Zealand international scrum-half Tawera Kerr-Barlow.

“We are very happy with the way we played for most of the evening, but as you could see from the last 20 minutes there is plenty to work on. It wasn’t a complete match by any means.”