No home comfort for Spencer

Carlos Spencer felt Saints' poor set-piece play was the reason they lost to Newcastle.

Carlos Spencer felt Northampton's poor set-piece play was the reason behind their 16-6 loss at home to Newcastle.

The Kiwi fly-half's debut at Franklin's Garden ended in defeat as Dave Walder steered the Falcons to their first win of the campaign.

Despite having plenty of the ball, the  hosts were unable to score a try as they had just two Bruce Reihana penalties to show for their efforts.

An inability to win their own line-out ball cost the Saints dear in the second half, although Spencer was refusing to get too downhearted after the result.

"They came out and gave us a tough game, I'm not surprised because their backs were up against the wall after two defeats in the competition," stated the New Zealander to Sky Sports.

"Our set pieces let us down, our scrum didn't go too well and our line-outs were shocking in the second half.

"It's a simple game but it becomes frustrating when you don't get a lot of ball. We've just got to keep our heads up, the good thing about this game is you get another chance the following week."

He added: "I'll move forward pretty quickly, the sun will shine tomorrow so it'll be another day."