Divine inspiration for Saints

Budge Pountney hailed Bruce Reihana's kicking after Saints' late win.

Northampton boss Budge Pountney was quick to praise match-winner Bruce Reihana, after the New Zealander scored two tries and kicked a last-gasp conversion to give Saints a 25-23 victory.

Reihana has been criticised for his kicking ability over recent weeks, but he landed an all-important effort from the touchline to hand the four points to the home side at Franklin's Gardens.

And coach Pountney joked: "Someone said Bruce can't kick. But if he can't kick then I'm the Pope - and I'm not even Catholic!"

"We lacked energy and so didn't play particularly well. We have been all about performance this year and that dropped from previous games.

"But the guys stuck together and we'll take the win. We are happy with that."

Meanwhile, opposing coach Brian Smith was livid at the amount of stoppage time played, after Ben Cohen's crucial try came nine minutes into stoppage time.

Smith questioned the work of Premier Rugby, after the organisation failed to deliver its promise of installing official clocks at every Premiership ground ahead of the 2005/06 campaign.

Plans are still afoot to introduce the system, but the Exiles' coach insists that his team suffered from the lack of clarity surrounding the end of the encounter.

"The sooner they can get these damn clocks into order and operational the better because you run the risk of playing until the home team scores," moaned Smith.

"The clocks were meant to be installed at the beginning of the season but they (Premier Rugby) haven't got their act together.

"I don't want to sensationalise this but clocks have to be at grounds because this can't continue to happen.

"Full credit to Northampton, they had to be good enough to score on the last play. But our question is, should there have been a last play?

"It's fantastic for the home supporters but it is not an even playing field and we are desperately disappointed about it. We asked our guys to stand up and play a Test match today.

"They delivered that. The game isn't always fair but life isn't always fair. They key thing is how we respond."