Mallinder delighted by response | Thebigtip

Northampton Saints bounced back from successive defeats to produce a stunning first-half display and claim an impressive 30-8 victory against high-flying Saracens at Franklin Gardens.

The hosts effectively ended the contest by the half-time break, going in with a commanding 27-3 lead, courtesy of tries from Lee Dickson, George Pisi and Phil Dowson, Ryan Lamb adding the extras with the boot. 

Both teams came out after the break and appeared to nullify each other in the second-half, the only points coming from Lamb. Despite the victory, the club will have been disappointed not to have added the bonus point, although victory was the main objective after their poor recent run. Those looking at the 6 Nations betting online will have been impressed.

Nick Mallinder, the subject of plenty of speculation regarding the vacant England manager's job, was delighted to have seen his side respond from back-to-back defeats. The Saints' head coach knew the team were going to need to produce something special to beat Saracens and will have been overjoyed with what he saw. 

"After last week's defeat we got a good reaction, the first half in particular," he said.

"We had a good set-piece, took our opportunities and our defence was excellent."
 
"Saracens was a good game to play today as they have a fantastic away record and it was just what we needed."

The Saints will be hoping to follow up this victory with another confident performance when they travel to Leicester next week, looking to further claw back the league's front-runners.