Mallinder salutes Saints new boys after Newcastle success

Jamie Gibson, Paul Hill and JJ Hanrahan all attracted credit from their boss after the five-try win against the Falcons.

Gibson was named man of the match, while Hill and Hanrahan, who came on for the injured George Pisi after just 32 minutes, made hugely positive contributions from the bench.

And Mallinder said: “Jamie had a really good game.

“We know he’s a good player and he played a key role, particularly in the lineout and he was good in the loose play as well.

“He pops up all over the field so he was good and the other stand-out was Paul Hill when he came off the bench.

“For a young tighthead prop to contribute in our open play like that was outstanding.”

And on Hanrahan, a summer recruit from Munster, Mallinder said: “He’s a nice player and we’ve been training with him in that position (at inside centre) for quite a lot of the time, so it was nothing new.

“JJ is a lovely player. We’ve seen him play previously and he can play well at 10, 12 and 15 so that’s a really good option to have.”

Saints secured the bonus-point success thanks to doubles from Christian Day and Ben Foden and one from Luther Burrell.

Stephen Myler also added 17 points as Mallinder’s men stepped things up in the second period after going in at half-time 16-9 up.

“We got a good start, got a good try, a couple of penalties, but then we let them back in the game a little bit,” the Saints boss said.

“We had a good chat at half-time and came out in the second half and played a lot better, with real tempo, good go-forward and used the ball a lot better.

“It was good to score those tries in the second half.”