\n<\/p>\n
Northampton Saints’ Tommy Freeman told BBC Radio Northampton:<\/b><\/p>\n
“Good start and lots of points on the board which good to see but I think there is loads more in us which is what we said at half-time, but overall a good result.<\/p>\n
“Our set piece we need to tighten up a bit on that first phase. Defensively we were caught a bit tight, but credit to Newcastle for stressing us in those areas but we would like to see better movement.<\/p>\n
“It is always a challenge and going back-to-back [titles] is not done by many teams. There is a reason for that but we will be looking to take each week as it comes and keep putting our DNA on the pitch.”<\/p>\n
Newcastle head coach Dan McFarland told BBC Radio Newcastle:<\/b><\/p>\n
“We put a lot of good stuff out there but we were tested today by a really, really good team. We know where we stand now and where we’ve got to work. We have a long jounrey ahead of us and that was the first step.<\/p>\n
“It was a fantastic score when we had a length of the field try and that was really us and we also had a lot of defensive sets where we had showed really good scramble and stopped them from scoring. <\/p>\n
“But the game is up and down. We had that yellow card and then we had three tries which were scored during that yellow, and the try just before half-time was a real killer.<\/p>\n
“Maybe we left a couple of tries out there but there is plenty in that that we will take away and see as a real positive.”<\/p>\n
Northampton: <\/b>Pater, Freeman, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Hendy, F Smith, McParland, Iyogun, Langdon, Kundiona, Coles, Prowse, Kemeny, Pollock, Chick<\/p>\n
Replacements: <\/i>R Smith, Fischetti, Neculai, Lockett, Taylor, Mitchell, Belleau, Sleightholme.<\/p>\n
Newcastle: <\/b>Obatoyinbo, Wade, Hearle, Harris, Kok, Connon, Elliott, Rakete-Stones, McGuigan, Millar Mills, Usher, Jordan, Hicks, Christie, Graham.<\/p>\n
Replacements: <\/i>Fletcher, West, Harper, Molina, Leatherbarrow, Cruz, Henry, Sotutu.<\/p>\n
Sin bin: <\/b>Obatoyinbo (14), Rakete-Stones (43)<\/p>\n
Referee: <\/b>Anthony Woodthorpe.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n