Gloucester 19-24 Northampton Saints, Kingsholm
Mallinder: Saints were fortunate
ESPN Staff
September 2, 2012
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Gloucester No.8 Ben Morgan is wrapped up by the Northampton defence, Gloucester v Northampton Saints, Aviva Premiership, Kingsholm, Gloucester, England, September 1, 2012
Gloucester's Ben Morgan gets little change from the Northampton defence © Getty Images
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Northampton boss Jim Mallinder conceded that his side were fortunate to take the points away after a 24-19 Aviva Premiership victory over Gloucester at Kingsholm.

Samoa centre George Pisi struck twice for the Saints, either side of a try to England hooker Dylan Hartley, to see off the Cherry and Whites, who mounted a late charge after GJ van Velze and Paul Doran-Jones were sin-binned in the closing stages.

"We were playing away from home at a club notorious for being difficult to beat on their ground," Mallinder said. "We didn't have to overplay but we lost the ball at times which was annoying."

Gloucester boss Nigel Davies was disappointed that they couldn't finish off their second-half comeback, but admitted that there is no need to panic after day one.

"I am really disappointed that we worked so hard to get back into that game and we couldn't finish it off," he said. "I think the pleasure I take from that is that we don't need to panic.

"If we play our game and play to our structures and play in the right areas, we have the capabilities of beating sides. Northampton are, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the best teams in Europe and we were very close to beating them today."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.

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