Boyd: Saints 'heading in the right direction' after Dragons success

The black, green and gold bagged five tries and five Challenge Cup points as they bounced back from last Saturday's 41-20 defeat to Clermont Auvergne in largely convincing fashion.

Saints had won just two of their seven games going into the clash at Rodney Parade, but they were in control at half-time, taking a 21-0 lead into the break.

They took their foot off the pedal a little during the second period, conceding three tries while scoring twice more to register the bonus point.

And Boyd said: "To get a bonus point was a plus for us.

"It was a pivotal game in the European section for us so we're happy to come here and get five points.

"We've still got a way to go when it comes to being accurate under pressure and there's still some frustration with things we haven't quite got right.

"But we're heading in the right direction and we're happy to score five tries. It was positive."

Saints were dominant up front during the first half, forcing referee Mathieu Raynal to award a penalty try and dish out two yellow cards to the Dragons.

"Courtney (Lawes) came back from injury and Dave Ribbans put in a good shift," Boyd said.

"The pack played pretty well and that laid the platform for us.

"If we can get some supply of front-foot ball, we're always going to be a handful.

"It's just about getting the balance right between our possession and our territory and we executed it.

"We talked about the need to be patient and not trying to get points all the time. We generally did that in the first half, apart from when they were down to 13.

"We started to think that every time we touched the ball we were going to score so we lost our way with 10 minutes to go until half-time.

"They came back after half-time and scored fairly quickly and we just didn't get our rhythm going."