Saints believe they can still win five out of six

Jim Mallinder still believes Saints can win five of their six Champions Cup pool games (picture: Kirsty Edmonds)

Mallinder’s men had beaten Scarlets and Glasgow Warriors before suffering a 33-3 defeat at Racing’s Stade Yves-du-Manoir last Saturday.

And they know they need a big reaction at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night, with their French opponents now sitting top of the pool.

Saints have amassed eight points so far, and Mallinder is confident his players can ensure last weekend’s Colombes woe was just a blip in the bid to reach the quarter-finals.

“We’ve trained well,” said the director of rugby.

“It’s going to be a big ask on Friday against a crackiing side, but we did have our opportunities and we didn’t play as badly as 33-3 in my opinion.

“But we’ll need to be at our best to get a result.

“We can still qualify.

“We’ve won our first two games, we got a hammering in France but we think we can win five out of six, so we need to make sure we win on Friday.”