Director of rugby Jim Mallinder has paid tribute to Northampton's defence following his side's 20-16 win at Harlequins on Saturday.
Win down to good defence says Northampton boss
Director of rugby Jim Mallinder has paid tribute to Northampton's defence following his side's 20-16 win at Harlequins on Saturday.
Saints fought off a late onslaught from the hosts to claim their second straight win of the campaign, as Quins piled on the pressure as they looked for a winning try.
Mallinder singled out England full-back Ben Foden, who prevented replacement prop Joe Marler from grounding the ball when was driven over with just six seconds to go.
"It wasn't a typical Northampton performance in terms of our attacking game," he said.
"But it was good to get a breakaway try, good to score to get back in front at the end of the game but, mainly, you can put the win down to a lot of good defence.
Robust
"Ben's a good defender, he reads the game well and he put in a good tackling performance - but everyone did. I was really pleased with the defensive performance."
Mallinder also praised Dylan Hartley, whose match-winning try in the 69th minute capped off a powerful performance by the England hooker.
"Dylan led the team in his typical robust style," he added. "He was in their faces,
"His defence was very good and he loves to counter-ruck, going through if they don't commit enough numbers.
"Sometimes it gets him in a bit of bother but he's trying to do the right thing, staying on his feet and actually making the breakdown competitive."
"To win two out of two at the start of the season is what you are after but we have Bath at home next week and then we go away to Saracens so it's a difficult start."
Outstanding
Harlequins boss Conor O'Shea, who saw his side turn a 13-0 deficit into a 16-13 lead prior to Hartley's try, remained upbeat despite the defeat.
"For the players there's no consolation at all because they deserved to win," he said. "In the second half they were outstanding,"
"This is not about one game, two games, this is about 22 games over the season and if we perform like that things will come good and we'll put some teams to the sword because we are creating a shed-load of opportunities.
"It's very hard for the guys to take that because they played some outstanding rugby but we'll get back and ready for Sale up in Stockport next week."
