Ludlam proud of Saints' fight as skipper insists team will stick together

And the skipper insists he and his team-mates will stick together on the back of two successive away defeats.

Just as they had in their 35-12 loss at Exeter Chiefs seven days earlier, Saints conceded three first-half tries and went in scoreless at half-time in their clash with Munster.

But Phil Dowson's side, helped by a 22nd-minute red card for Munster flanker Jack O'Donoghue, stepped things up in the second half, threatening a comeback success.

It wasn't to be as Munster eventually held out, but Ludlam, who delivered another strong showing, was impressed with how his team-mates kept battling at Thomond Park.

"We definitely fired some shots in the second half and I couldn't be prouder of how the boys came out of the blocks after being 24 points down," Ludlam said.

"We understood there was an advantage with them having the red card, but our mindset in the second half was remarkable.

"However, we need to find a way to come out of the blocks like that from the start, especially away from home.

"We need to get in the zone and have the mindset to go for them straight off the bat, but we didn't quite do that until too late.

"We gave them opportunities to piggyback up the field from our indiscipline, from free-kicks and a team like this are going to work you up the field.

"When they got up the field, they took their opportunities as well.

"I felt in the second half, we were better on the five-metre in our 22 defensively, but in the first half we gave them too many easy opportunities.

"We said it all week that if we slipped off for a second, a team like this would take their opportunities. We gave them too many in that first half.

"At half-time, we just said this is an opportunity to look back on in a few years’ time and remember when we went 24 points down as a group of mates at Munster and went out and won the game.

"It wasn't quite to be today."

Saints opted to go for goal with a penalty two minutes from time as they chased the win at 27-20 down.

But after Fin Smith's successful penalty, they couldn't make the 30 seconds they had left count as Munster turned over a maul to win the game.

"We're still searching for a win in this competition and we felt it was easier to take the three points and work our way down the pitch to get a try," Ludlam said. "It was the decision on the pitch.

"We felt like we needed a win in this competition, so that's what we tried to get, but unfortunately it didn't quite come off in the end.

"The real work-on is how we come out of the blocks in the first half, and that's what we'll be looking at during the week."

Unlike after their game at La Rochelle last month, Saints did not have to fly back immediately, meaning some welcome team bonding time and a Saturday night stay in Limerick.

And Ludlam said: "Now more than ever, off the back of a couple of losses, it's important that we stick together, we enjoy each other's company, especially away from home.

"It's not very often we get to do this.

"It's a long season and we're under no illusion that it's a new challenge next weekend (at home to La Rochelle) and we need to get ourselves off the floor and get excited about that as quickly as possible.

"We're disappointed with the first-half performance but we'll celebrate that second half and the fact we showed each other what it means to us.

"We showed we can come out of the blocks when we get our heads straight.

"We need to stay close."