Saints' double delight
It was double delight for Jim Mallinder as Northampton Saints opened up a six-point gap over third-placed Saracens yesterday.
They powered to a 15-7 win at Sale while Saracens were losing at strugglers Leeds to open up clear daylight as they look to secure a top-two finish and a home Guinness Premiership play-off.
Wingers Paul Diggin and Chris Ashton scored Saints tries, with Ashton making it 12 Guinness Premiership tries for the season.
Sitting second is far beyond what most Saints fans were expecting at the start of the season.
And Mallinder said: "We are delighted to be where we are.
"It was a good win against Leicester last week and now to back that up with a good away win at Sale is important.
"Saracens have lost as well, which creates a little bit more space, which is even more pleasing."
Saints are now nine points clear of fifth-placed London Irish as they stay on course for an unprecedented treble.
Mallinder's men dominated the first half and should have been out of sight at half-time.
But other than Saints' finishing he felt it was a solid display.
"Until the final whistle goes you are always concerned you are not going to get the win," said Mallinder.
"We didn't take all our chances. We took two good ones but we also had a lot of line breaks in that first half and opportunities to kick goals which we didn't take.
"But I felt it was a good all-round performance.
"Our set-piece was good. It was tidy. We took our opportunities really well for the two tries, we defended well and didn't give away too many penalties."
Mallinder had some words of comfort for his old club Sale, who slipped to the bottom of the Premiership.
"It is disappointing to see them in this position," he added.
"As a director of rugby all you can do is concentrate on your job and that is to make your own club successful.
"They have still got some quality players but you can certainly never say that a team is too good to go down."
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Weather for Kettering
Sunday 27 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 10 C to 25 C
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Wind direction: East
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Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 26 C
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