Steele sorry to see game slip away
September 23, 2001

Northampton Saints boss John Steele blamed several missed second half chances for his side's 25-20 defeat to Saracens.

In fact on at least four occasions Northampton crossed Saracens' goalline in the last 10 minutes with only hooker Steve Thompson scoring late into injury time to earn the Franklin's Garden club a bonus point.

"We dominated the second half from the first minute," said director rugby Steele, whose side has only won two out of four games this season.

"But to be honest I don't know how many times we could have scored because I lost count. I know that we had two tries disallowed but there were several also held up and a couple of times we could have scored.

"Twice we also went out wide and we should have scored then but they were bad misses.

"I could really be standing here talking about a 20-point victory. It is a plus we created these chances but we have now got to find that scoring edge."

Steele also refused to blame the absence of four key players - captain Budge Pountney, Matt Stewart, John Leslie and Tom Smith - who were ruled out of the game because they were on international duty with Scotland on Saturday.

He added: "We were always aware of the problems internationals cause so I planned for my squad to accommodate it. The players we had on the pitch today were good enough to create chances so as far as I am concerned they are good enough to take them.

"It just didn't happen today and we've got to make sure this doesn't happen again in the future."

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