If the overriding emotion for fans after the glorious defeat in North London was immense pride, it’s only fair to say that this week in Northampton it was one of intense frustration.
Frustration at shipping another bucket-load of points, frustration at watching a defensive line shredded like a field of wheat at harvest time and frustration at having a high tackle law that appears to be arbitrarily applied from week to week.
Erratic officiating was one of the contributing factors to Saturday’s narrative but it was no way the reason why we lost. No, the bigger picture (no pun intended for once) was that yet again we managed to concede possession too cheaply, in so many different ways and at so many key moments so that despite having ample possession we weren’t able to apply sustained pressure on the hosts who were as clinical as we were profligate.
