Mallinder urges Saints to give home supporters something to shout about

The last time Northampton, who face Bath this weekend, took to the field they endured a torrid time at the hands of Leinster.

The Irish side scored six tries in a 40-7 Heineken Cup rout, leaving some Saints fans heading for the exits before the final whistle.

Mallinder’s men have since made amends for that horror show by securing a superb win at Leinster and a victory at Wasps last time out.

But the director of rugby now wants his players to give their home supporters something to shout about when Bath come calling this weekend.

“We’ve got some cracking fans and we need to start well to get the fans behind us,” said Mallinder.

“Like any crowd, once your team are losing, once they’ve gone two, three, four scores behind you lose heart so we need the crowd to get behind us and that starts with us playing and performing well.”

He added: “We are confident in our own ability, but we also know we have got flaws - we’ve seen that.

“We didn’t play at our best last weekend so we need to play better than that.

“We’ve got to get back to the really good intensity when we do play well and clearly the Saracens game at home was a massive highlight and the Leinster game last week.

“We rose to the occasion, so I’m hoping it’s not going to be a Leinster of three weeks ago at home, and it’s going to be one of those other games.”