Boyd happy with result but criticises Saints’ performance in win over Lyon

The black, green and gold bagged a 25-14 victory in the Champions Cup opener at Franklin’s Gardens.

Dan Biggar kicked 20 points, with Rory Hutchinson adding an eye-catching try.

But Saints let Lyon back into the game after being 19-0 up at the break, with the away side scoring twice, through replacement Thibaut Regard.

And boss Boyd said: “It’s a bit of a recurring story because we were happy with the outcome but not very happy with the performance.

“If we reflect back on the 80 minutes, the damage was done by half-time when we were 19-0 up.

“We’re pretty disappointed with the second half but Rome wasn’t built in a day, was it?

“Lyon are a really good side but with an ounce of luck we might have scored a couple more tries in that first half. We created a few and didn’t quite finish them off.

“Our execution and finishing aside, the way we controlled the game during the first half was pretty good.

“We didn’t get possession and territory at the same time in the second half. We gave away a couple of penalties and there were some loose bits of skill execution.

“When we kicked to make it outside of 21 points up, we would have had to capitulate to lose at that stage, but it wasn’t great.”