Lockett hails Saints' squad strength after spirited showing at Exeter

The black, green and gold sent a heavily-rotated team to Sandy Park to take on an Exeter side desperate for a lift after some horrible recent results.

But though Exeter eventually claimed a 42-14 win that ended Saints' Gallagher Premiership title defence, Phil Dowson's men had much to be proud about.

They pushed their hosts for long periods, dominating possession and territory during the first period.

And Lockett, who skippered Saints for the first time, felt the performance of the fringe players and youngsters showed why his club were able to beat Leinster earlier this month.

"That performance says as much about our squad as the performance in Dublin," Lockett said.

"It's not 23s that win championships, it's however many people have represented us this year.

"It's not just the 23 you see playing in the final."

Saints dished out six Premiership debuts at Sandy Park.

"It's an inexperienced group but we don't feel inexperienced because we train together every day," 22-year-old forward Lockett said.

"In Premiership terms, yes it's inexperienced, but we run our DNA into the ground week in, week out, whether we're playing for Bedford, Cambridge on loan or on the (Saints) bench.

"All it is, is putting it on the pitch at a higher level against a good team.

"Some things didn't go to plan and obviously Exeter are a good side who are pretty desperate. You can probably see that in the scoreline.

"But I said to the boys at the end that you almost have to sack the scoreline off a little bit.

"It obviously stings and we'll take that feeling into the next couple of weeks but the feeling I'll carry with us more is the effort and fight we showed from one to 23. It's something you can't coach.

"It's a pretty difficult place when you come in on Monday or Tuesday and you're disappointed with the effort and heart, but that's definitely not something we'd say about this game.

"That (the commitment) is the biggest thing and it's what (Sam) Vesty says - that it's a great place to coach from because you can always sharpen up on things, you can always add details.

"It's a great place to coach from when we're fighting for each other and we're willing to put our bodies on the line."

On captaining Saints for the first time, Lockett said: "It was a huge honour.

"When Dows (Saints boss Phil Dowson) asked me to do it at the start of the week, I said yes straight away.

"It's a big honour to captain a club that's given me so much."

Saints now have one more Premiership game to navigate, at home to Saracens on Saturday, before heading to Cardiff to face Union Bordeaux Bègles in the Investec Champions Cup final.

"We're trying not to (think about the final) because as soon as you look ahead, you'll get punched in the face by something that's in front of you," Lockett said.

"I said to the boys, there was a bit of chat about the team we'd picked and the fact we were focusing on the final and we'd sacked this game off, but I said they don't know the effort we've put in and how hard we've worked for the opportunity.

"It will be the same this week and we're not looking ahead to the final - we're taking every opportunity that's in front of us and hopefully that will put us in a good place when it comes to Cardiff."