No time to feel sorry for ourselves, says Saints skipper Ludlam

Phil Dowson's side bowed out of Europe on Saturday afternoon as they suffered a 31-13 defeat to La Rochelle at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

It was Saints' fourth loss in as many Heineken Champions Cup pool games this season and their third defeat on the spin in all competitions.

They now prepare to head back into Gallagher Premiership action on Saturday as a huge showdown with local rivals Leicester Tigers lies in wait at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

But Saints, who have a Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final to look forward to next month, will have to do without Ludlam and his fellow England players as they are joining up with England for a five-day training camp, which starts on Monday.

And skipper Ludlam wants his club-mates to pick themselves up quickly as they look to secure crucial league points at Leicester.

"I said to the boys we've got to pick ourselves up because it's the money end of the season so we can't be feeling sorry for ourselves for too long," Ludlam said.

"We're still alive in two competitions.

"We're improving every week - that's the pleasing thing, but we can't take a backwards step now.

"You've seen in the Premiership that any team can win on their day, and any team can lose.

"The team that gets that consistency bit right will be in the mix at the end of the season.

"That's the bit we're looking to improve on and that's the bit that can get us in a Prem semi-final."

Looking back on the Champions Cup pool stage campaign, in which Saints lost to both La Rochelle and Munster twice, Ludlam said: "It was one of frustration.

"I felt like we were in that game (against La Rochelle) for long periods and the man going off didn't help us, but Munster away last week we felt like we should have got a result as well.

"I feel like we're taking a lot of learnings out of the past couple of weeks, but ultimately European rugby is what we want to be playing and it's another trophy we're out of."

Saints were well in the game at half-time against La Rochelle on Saturday, but they had been hit by a red card for Fraser Dingwall a minute before the break.

And it was eventually too big an ask for the black, green and gold on a day when they also saw Lukhan Salakaia-Loto red carded and lost Courtney Lawes to a calf injury.

"I never felt like it was too much out of reach in that game," Ludlam said.

"On paper, you look at it and could say 14 men against that team is always going to be a tough ask but I felt like this group always felt like they were in it a little bit.

"Good teams can pull themselves back into the game once or twice - great teams can pull themselves back into the game two, three, four times on the bounce.

"We did it once or twice but then the game got away from us so that's the frustrating thing.

“The effort was there - we just need to find a way to be more accurate with more points because they probably had less entries into the 22 than us but they took their opportunities when they came."