Opposition view: Lam admits 'superb' Saints were 'on fire' against Bears
Pat Lam says Saints were ‘on fire’ during their incredible 94-33 demolition of his Bristol Bears side on Friday night.
The Bears shipped 14 tries during a sobering 80 minutes at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, with Lam admitting his team’s chances of making the play-offs are now all but over.
Saints showed why they are top of the PREM table as they produced some sensational rugby to book their own play-off place.
And Lam, who captained the black, green and gold to Heineken Cup glory in 2000, said: “First, you’ve got to give credit to Northampton – they were on fire.
"We were expecting a backlash (after Saints lost 41-17 at Leicester Tigers last weekend) and they made the most of every turnover.
"They scored eight tries when we were down to 14 men (due to yellow cards).
"They were superb and we take our hats off to them.”
When asked how he will handle such a sizeable defeat for the Bears, Lam said: “This is life.
"There’s bigger things that have happened to a lot of us in the world than this.
"Obviously it’s embarrassing, it’s disappointing but it’s what you do about it.
"Is this the worst thing in the world that’s happened to us? Of course it’s not.
"But for us, it’s about getting back together.
“We’ve got Bath next in a couple of weeks and we’ve got to get back to that.
"I obviously want to apologise to our fans because we’re bitterly disappointed.
"But fair play to Saints.”
When asked whether Bristol’s play-off chances are over, Lam replied: “I’d say so.
"We’ve got two games we’ve got to play and we’re looking forward to playing Bath.
"This is Saints’ night, let them enjoy that.
"We’ll get back, dust ourselves off.
"When you get kicked down, it’s about what you do (next).”