"I don't know if it counts if you lose!' - Ramm shrugs off Saints hat-trick

Ramm doubled up during the first half and completed his personal treble with a fine finish during the final 10 minutes.

But it counted for nothing for Saints as they were eliminated from the Premiership Rugby Cup at the quarter-final stage as Champinship table-toppers Ealing celebrated a memorable success at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

And when asked about his hat-trick, Ramm said: "I don't know if it counts if you lose!

"It really is tough to take.

"In our huddle we said we'd talked a lot about having a fast start and putting our game on the park really early but we didn't do that.

"We lost the physical battle and they moved the ball really well so they reaped the benefits of that.

"Credit to them because they were up for it and I just think they wanted it more than us, which is really, really frustrating on our part.

"It's not skill error, it's attitude and it's on us.

"The coaching staff did everything they could to get us ready for the game but we've got to make sure we're preparing better.

"We always go into a game backing ourselves, knowing when we perform we can get a result, but we just didn't perform."

Ramm was up against former Saints team-mate Tom Collins, who scored two tries in the Ealing success.

And Ramm said: "He's such a good fella.

"I spent a lot of time with him when I first came in and learned everything I could from him.

"He's a class player, a class bloke and I'm happy he had a good game."

Saints now have back-to-back free weekends before returning to Gallagher Premiership action with a huge March 21 home game against Leicester Tigers.

"No one wants two weeks off before going back into the Leicester game, but we need to use this," Ramm said.

"We need to make sure that when we come into games like this, we are in the right head space.

"We'll definitely use training for that."