'My barometer swung from frustration to anger': Chris Boyd unimpressed as Northampton slip to defeat against London Irish

Northampton Saints director of rugby Chris Boyd was unhappy with a number of issues after his side missed the chance to go top of the Gallagher premiership following a 20-16 defeat against London Irish.

The Saints’ cause was not helped by the dismissal of second-rower Api Ratuniyarawa midway through the second half for a head high clear-out on London Irish prop Harry Elrington.

The Exiles played a limited game but deserved their victory as they outscored the hosts by three tries to one.

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Cobus Reinach scored Northampton’s try with James Grayson kicking three penalties and a conversion.

Ollie Hassell-Collins, Franco Van Der Merwe and Dave Porecki responded with tries for Irish with Stephen Myler adding a penalty and a conversion.

Boyd said: “My barometer swung from frustration to anger. I’m going to take some splinters and sit on the fence and say no comment as I have a strong opinion on the red and yellow cards that were issued in the match.

“A combination of lack of discipline, lack of skill and some poor decision making resulted in us losing the game."

Boyd was unable to pick his five England squad members for the game and chose to rest Wales international fly-half Dan Biggar ahead of next week’s Six Nations start.

Boyd said: “Consistency is obviously an issue and losing six players takes depth from our selection.

“We are dealing with a different group of players but tonight they were required to do a job and needed to be smarter.

“We’ve gone 19 weeks without a break and were desperately keen to finish January on a good note. However it wasn’t to be and we need to regroup and flush that performance out.”