'A good place to learn lessons from' as table-topping Saints target improvement

The black, green and gold were far from happy with their performance against a much-changed Bath team at the end of last month, just squeezing past the second-placed side in a 41-38 success at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Saints struggled in defence, under the high ball and at lineout time as they produced a patchy performance.

But Fin Smith’s penalty with the final kick of the game ensured Phil Dowson’s men delivered a 12th win in 14 league matches so far this season.

They took the weekend off ahead of returning to action with a huge game at third-placed Leicester Tigers on Saturday.

And though they know there is plenty of improvement needed before that encounter, Vesty feels his team has a good platform on which to build.

"I'm happy about the score,” head coach Vesty joked, when asked which areas of the Bath game actually pleased him.

“I'm frustrated, really frustrated because I know we're a much better team than that and that was just a disappointing performance.

“But it's a good place to be because we're top of the table, we have beaten the reigning champs at home, got five points.

“We've got to learn some lessons, but it's a good place to learn lessons from.”

When asked for his overall assessment of Saints’ showing against Bath, Vesty said: “We were poor there, really poor and never got out of third gear, didn't look like we were moving very well, talking to each other.

“It was really disappointing, to be honest.

“It's a frustratingly poor performance from a movement and energy point of view.

“We definitely did leave lots of chances out there in that first half and I thought we were going to create lots more, but we sort of stopped playing a bit in that second half.

“We gave them lots of ins and our defence wasn't good enough to keep them out.”

Saints continually struggled to claim high balls against Bath, giving possession back to their opponents time and time again.

When asked whether it was more about Bath's strengths or Saints’ weaknesses in that area, Vesty said: “A bit of both.

“When you make it a contest, especially with the new laws where the guy's got a free run, it is very difficult.

“We got a few of theirs back as well so it is a very contested area, it's difficult, but we need to be better in that area and 100 per cent that's one of the areas we need to be better at.

"They kicked competitively, they got in the air and challenged the wingers very well and put us under a lot of pressure.”

Saints’ England stars showed their class against Bath as Smith capped a fine performance with the winning kick and Tommy Freeman notched a second hat-trick in as many league matches against Bath.

"He (Smith) is a good player,” Vesty said.

“Lots of people did lots of good things and I thought Tommy Freeman was exceptional in that last 30 minutes.

“So there were lots of good things and although I'm being slightly pessimistic and a bit down, there were lots of good things, but also lots of average things as well.”

Saints brought JJ van der Mescht off the bench during the second half, and he delighted the home fans with an intercept and clearance kick.

"I've just revoked his licence,” Vesty said, laughing.

“He did really well to get the intercept and I didn't know what his plan was, but I don't think he should leave it right in the middle of the pitch so we'll work on that.”

When it was suggested the game was something of a psychological win for Bath, Vesty said: “The team they put out, obviously that's not their strongest side, and they should be very happy with the afternoon they had.

“They'll be disappointed they've not come away with more because I thought it was a very spirited and well-executed game plan from Bath.”