Allan Jacobsen's early try proved to be insufficient for Edinburgh © PA Photos

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Matches: Edinburgh 27 - 31 Northampton Saints

Tournaments/Tours: Heineken Cup

Teams: Edinburgh | Northampton Saints

Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder revealed some stern half-time words had helped his side on their way to a 31-27 Heineken Cup victory at Edinburgh which puts them three points clear at the top of Pool 1.

Saints, who had edged Castres in their opening fixture last weekend, had appeared to be in trouble as the Gunners produced some outstanding attacking rugby to open up a 24-13 lead after 31 minutes thanks to tries from Allan Jacobsen, Netani Talei and Ben Cairns and nine points from the boot of the ever-reliable Chris Paterson.

But Saints rallied just prior to the break as fly-half Stephen Myler's third penalty and a try from centre James Downey closed the lead to three points. Paterson added another penalty for the hosts but Myler, who ended with 16 points, converted Paul Diggin's try and added his fourth penalty to seal the win after a much-improved second-half display from last season's European quarter-finalists.

And Mallinder admitted he had been pretty forceful in making his feelings known to his players at the interval. He said: "I was really pleased to get that result because Edinburgh are a formidable side who have beaten some big teams so it is a big game coming to Murrayfield.

"I told our players some home truths at half time - they had to sharpen up their defence and look after the ball better although our attacking was pretty good. We had to stop Edinburgh's offloading game and although we had been hesitant in the first half we stepped that up after half-time.

"The try just before half-time was crucial and it showed that if we got quick ball we would score. Our pack played up the middle well and although there was no bonus point I was really only thinking about securing the win as we were going through the final 20 minutes."

Edinburgh's defeat followed on from their reverse at Cardiff Blues last weekend, and coach Rob Moffat was left admitting his side face a huge task to progress from this pool.

He said: "Yes, it was a must win game and we lost again. It has been very frustrating to have lost two games when you look at the effort that has been put in. They certainly controlled the second half and stopped us playing the game we were looking to play.

"When we had quality ball in the first half we played really well but when they stopped us playing we made some soft errors under no real pressure."