Dingwall insists making the play-offs is still 'doable' for Saints

But Fraser Dingwall, who skippered the side to a 61-0 Gallagher Premiership win in the final game of 2024, insists reaching the play-offs this season is still ‘doable’.

Saints are nine points adrift of the top four with half of the league campaign gone.

They have won just four of their nine matches so far, suffering away defeats to Bath, Leicester Tigers, Bristol Bears and Saracens as well as losing at home to Gloucester.

And with table-topping Bath coming to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Sunday, the mission doesn’t get any easier.

But Dingwall retains full belief that his team-mates can make up the deficit to the play-off places in the months to come.

"It's very doable,” the England centre said.

"Like you see every year, a team gets a bit of momentum and you never know where they can end up.

"We've done it before and things are going to line up. Hopefully it's very, very soon.”

Saints have suffered from a lack of consistency in the league this season, struggling to string results together.

But they have shown an ability to bounce back, as they did when beating Newcastle six days after a 39-24 defeat at Saracens.

"It was an inevitable reaction but what we have to pride ourselves on now is that we can be consistent with our level and it's not just a spike after a defeat,” Dingwall said.

"We spoke again after the Sarries game and said 'we can't go through the season having these emotional spikes, beating Bulls one week and then being poor the next week and really let ourselves down'.

"We don't want to be the team that are just up and down the whole time and not really getting any sort of consistency and feel throughout the season.

"It's a challenge laid out for the rest of the season.

"We're not necessarily in the best position in the league but we still don't feel like all hope's lost, we're still in a great spot and I've still got full confidence in the squad.”

Saints were at their free-flowing best in the first half against the Falcons, racing into a 40-0 lead by the break.

They took their foot off the gas a bit during the second half as they kept key players fresh for what lies ahead.

But Dingwall stayed on for the full 80 minutes and was named man of the match.

"It was fun,” he said.

"I feel like the boys were really synchronised and there was a lot of connection between everyone.

"We were picking off things really nicely.

"It was a great example that when we get the ball and we're moving it fast, we're a pretty hard team to stop.”

Dingwall has formed strong centre partnerships with both Tom Litchfield and Rory Hutchinson this season, with all three players impressing against Newcastle.

And Dingwall said: “It's brilliant. We're really blessed that in the centres we've got Hutch, Litchy pushing now, Burger (Odendaal) still to come back.

"You can't play every game of the year and the more depth we can have, it's great for us.”