Carlos calls for play-off push

Carlos Spencer has called on his Saints teammates to finish in the top four.

Northampton Saints' talisman Carlos Spencer challenged his teammates to reach the end-of-season play-offs, after they crushed Saracens 58-17 at Franklin's Gardens.

Saints' eight-try victory moved them up to seventh in the Premiership table, eight points away from fourth place.

Spencer was at his mercurial best - probing and prompting from the middle of the park, as Northampton claimed their fifth win in six matches.

Now the Kiwi fly half wants his men to push on for a top-four finish, stating: "Anything's possible."

Sean Lamont grabbed four tries in a scintillating display by Saints, and Spencer admitted everything is in place for a strong climax to the season.

"We just have to keep our feet on the ground and stay confident. We are believing in ourselves now.

"We had a lot of space today and that's a credit to our forwards. They gave us a lot of ball."

Coach Paul Grayson, recently awarded Guinness Premiership Director of rugby of the month, confessed he could not remember a better team display, and he had special praise for Spencer.

"It was our best performance for a long time. The conditions were right, Sarries have their problems and it turned out well for us," said the former England stand-off, who is in a good position to judge his current number 10.

"He does some unbelievable things. He does things I've never seen anybody else do. He has that little bit of genius."

The result capped a tough week for new Saracens head coach Mike Ford, who has seen his men concede 91 points in two matches.

He revealed after the latest defeat that the players will attend a crisis meeting, in an attempt to arrest their slump towards relegation.

"The biggest disappointment was when we went behind we just seemed to crumble. We didn't show any character at all," moaned Ford.

"The players need to put their hands up and say that they are not performing and in some cases why they are not able to perform.

"That will start tomorrow morning at 10 o'clock. We'll have a meeting behind closed doors.

"We have got to fix it ourselves. We are in a deeper hole than we think we are. We can't afford to wait until the last couple of games of the season before we think about not getting relegated."