Optimistic: Jim Mallinder
Northampton boss Jim Mallinder believes his side's Heineken Cup win at Ulster will boost them during the festive period in the Premiership.
Saints host Harlequins on Saturday before facing tough away fixtures against Saracens on December 30 and Exeter on January 5.
All three of those teams occupy position in the top six of the Premiership table but the Saints are on a high after their 10-9 Heineken Cup victory at Ravenhill last weekend.
And although Mallinder is not getting too carried away with that result, he knows his side can build on that display in the coming weeks.
"We know one good win doesn't make the season, which is why you shouldn't get too high when you win and too low when you lose, but it's been a good win and that sets us up nicely," he told the Northamptonshire Telegraph.
"We've got three really tough games over Christmas and new year and that game will be a massive help towards that."
One aspect of Saints' play against Ulster which delighted Mallinder was the performances which his replacements put in when they came off the bench.
Front rowers Brian Mujati and Alex Waller were particularly impressive especially in the scrums .
"It was really good, those bench players played well," said Mallinder. "We started scrummaging well and the changes continued that.
"It's great when you can go to your scrum and put them under pressure like we did on Saturday. The front five were outstanding. The set piece was really, really good.
"At the breakdown the week before we couldn't get any quick ball and Ulster strangled us, held us up on numerous occasions and we didn't get on the front foot at all.
"On Saturday, right from the start, we got on the front foot, the forwards worked really hard around the corner, we kept some good width to our game and we could have possibly scored another couple of tries."
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