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Luther Burrell: Embarrassment of being called soft key to Northampton's derby victory over Leicester
Luther Burrell has claimed that a brutal team meeting during which the Northampton Saints players were branded “soft” was the critical factor in his side’s victory over Leicester Tigers in what proved to be a one-sided east Midlands derby.
Burrell revealed that fierce criticism by the club’s director of rugby Jim Mallinder in the wake of the “embarrassing” defeat by Saracens in the opening round provoked the reaction from the players that enabled Northampton to completely dominate the collisions and ball-carrying statistics.
Burrell scored one of his side’s two-first half tries that laid the foundation for this ultimately comfortable win that ended a run of seven successive defeats in all competitions against their old rivals, who find themselves at the wrong end of the table without a win after two rounds.
Dylan Hartley, the England captain who also scored before the interval, and international team-mate Courtney Lawes spearheaded Northampton’s rival with menacing displays that will have ensured national head coach Eddie Jones was another who left Franklin’s Gardens in good heart on Saturday night.
There was another impressive finish by Tom Collins for a second-half try, while Harry Mallinder kicked a penalty and three conversions.
“When you come in on Monday morning and your coaches are fuming with you and calling you soft, ultimately as a player you have got to react,” said Burrell. “You don't want to upset your director (of rugby), you don't want to be called soft.
“It has been a tough week, quite frankly we got embarrassed last week. We had to have a reaction and what a game to put it right, Leicester at home, local derby - you look for that game at the start of every season, so (it was) very positive from our side.
“Leicester are a great side but we did not let them into the game. We had to step up our defence because we were soft last week. I think ultimately that's what came through and got us the win."
Mallinder hopes the performance will prove a launch pad for their campaign, and was more reflective of their pre-season form. A suspected groin injury for George North was the only setback.
“We had to respond like that, there was no other way,’ said the Saints boss. “You could tell from the first minute we were up for it. The pack were outstanding."
For Leicester, the visit of Gloucester on Saturday is now of great import for director of rugby Matt O’Connor, who is concerned that a third successive defeat would leave his side with potentially too much ground to make up in the top-four race.
The only highlight was a late try by Jonny May, with their only other points coming from two penalties by George Ford.
“It is massive that we put a marker down and we get the result,” O’Connor said. “It is very hard to come back if you lose your first three games. That puts the squad under pressure and puts everyone in the environment under pressure and makes it hard to go out and play the way you want to play.”
O’Connor was also adamant that the club properly dealt an injury to Dominic Ryan, who did not go for a head injury assessment despite appearing to suffer a heavy blow while tackling North.
“Dom made a fantastic cover tackle and in the process winded himself,” O’Connor added. “The physio was on the scene and as soon as the physio gets there, Dom asks, ‘Did they score or not?’
“That would indicate to me that he's conscious and that he's fine. The physio said he was 100 per cent fine, so there are no issues.”