‘Sticking together vital for Saints’ – Mallinder

Northampton Saints boss Jim Mallinder believes sticking together will be crucial for his side ahead of Saturday's Champions Cup clash at Clermont.

The Saints suffered a humiliating 57-13 home loss to Saracens in their tournament opener last weekend. That result was the heaviest home defeat in Northampton's history and proved humbling for Mallinder and his charges as they won four out of five matches prior to that.

And Mallinder knows they face a daunting task at Stade Marcel Michelin against Clermont who kicked off their campaign with a deserved 26-21 away win against the Ospreys.

“Clermont away is a pretty tough ask,” he told the Northampton Chonicle and Echo.

“We’ve had to really have a good look at ourselves, look at how we can get better.

“We’ve got to stick together – that’s key. It’s easy to point fingers at other people, but we’re in it together.

“We’ve got to make sure we come back with a game plan this week that will hopefully get us back to winning ways.”

Mallinder believes it is important for his charges to do the basics right if they want to return to the victory trail.

“We’ve got to look at things that work for us,” he said.

“It starts from one to 15 and it’s got to be a game plan that works for us.

“It starts with winning the set piece, being dominant, getting on the front foot, which we weren’t last Sunday.

“We didn’t look after the ball and a lot of that was down to how they defend because they’re very aggressive and physical.

“We’ve got to have a game plan that is going to work against Clermont this weekend.”