'We wanted to show we don't have a soft underbelly', says Saints star Ludlam

And the influential flanker savoured Saturday's strong showing in the superb 13-12 success at Exeter Chiefs.

Ludlam produced a towering performance in tough conditions to help his team win at Sandy Park for the first time since February 2014.

It was an all-action display that formed part of an incredible forward effort, with Saints dominating in the set piece and delivering a gargantuan defensive showing.

And fired-up Ludlam said: "We want to play rugby but we've been accused a few times of having a soft underbelly and we want to go out there and show people we're serious about what we're doing.

"It wasn't pretty but the graft and the ability to front up in conditions like this is something to be proud of.

"There's a good feeling around the camp and we need to keep that going.

"We can't sit still, we've got to continue to improve and build on the peformances, and who knows where it can take us."

And he added: "It wasn't pretty but I'm really happy with the effort the lads put in there.

"We stayed in the fight through 80 minutes. We knew they would try to wear us down but we stayed in it for long periods of time and won those 50/50s that we knew we would have to out here.

"It's a really tough place to come and that's a really good performance from us.

"We felt really good after the first half but we were wary that we didn't want a second half like we had at Wasps.

"We came in at half-time buzzing in that Wasps game and we wanted to continue that but we didn't.

"We weren't accurate enough at times during that second half but we had a good buzz about us and we wanted to go up and hit people.

"It's an enjoyable feeling in the squad."