Rhys Oakley says Saints have got a lot of things to ‘fix up’ in training this week after their Friday night defeat to Castres.
Oakley and Co slipped to a 21-16 loss against the Top 14 side in Toulouse, seeing a below-par performance – barring a rally in the final 10 minutes – cost them dear.
Castres took advantage to clinch their first victory in pool 4 of this season’s Heineken Cup and leave Saints on six points after two games.
Jim Mallinder’s men will now be desperate to bounce back quickly as they face crucial Aviva Premiership games against Saracens and Leicester in the next two weeks.
And Oakley says he and his team-mates have got several issues to iron out on the paddock as they look to get back to winning ways, against Sarries on Saturday.
He said: “Things go wrong and it’s how you bounce back from those things. In terms of the mistakes we made, there will be a lot of things to fix up in training.
“Basic errors need to be fixed, knock-ons, simple set piece work, but we’ll work on that and we’ll come back stronger.”
Saints had been 10-0 down early on in the game at the Stade Ernest-Wallon, but showed spirit to mount a recovery.
And No.8 Oakley believes they can take plenty of heart from the way they came back into the game, a comeback crowned by George Pisi’s score, which sealed a losing bonus point.
“It’s not the end of the world,” said the 32-year-old. “It’s more to do with the way we played and the mistakes we made. It was just a very frustrating night.
“We made it very difficult for ourselves. Every time we had the ball we gave it up and it was a constant wave of attack, attack and attack. Through our errors, that’s the way it went.
“It was disappointing but to go to France and get a losing bonus point is no easy feat and to be in within with a chance of winning the game in the last minute, we’ll take that away with us.
“Even when we play badly, we can still be a very dangerous side.”
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