"We're dead, mate." Saints' boss, Chris Boyd

Northampton Saints didn’t do themselves any favours in the most recent round of the Premiership, crashing to defeat against the Newcastle Falcons – a result which has left Saints’ boss Chris Boyd in a state of despair. 

Saints now occupy fifth position on the overall standings, however, they are 11 points behind fourth-placed Harlequins, leaving them with something of a mountain to climb. 

Boyd was recently asked about his play-off hopes, and responded with the following: 

“We’re dead, mate, we’re gone. 

“We had a good three months and we were set up for the top four, but we have let ourselves down and we have three tough games to finish the season off. 

“If you play like we have for the last couple of weeks then you don’t deserve to be the top of any race. 

“We were missing a lot of players tonight and the ones we have brought in have not had the minutes they perhaps needed. We overplayed in the middle of the pitch and we gave away too many soft penalties. 

“We had poor skill execution which meant for the first 40 minutes we were fighting and it took a lot out of us. If we’d managed the game better we could have maybe put them under pressure and tried to bring the game home, but we didn’t manage that.” 

Saints next face Wasps on 29 May at Franklin’s Gardens.