James, JV Rensburg, Yarde, MacGinty, Warr, Rodd, Van Der Merwe, Oosthuizen, JL. There are a lot of ifs, but if we converted some spells we might have got a point.' We chose to play downwind and down 13-6 at half-time, we played some better football in the second-half. We're getting pretty tight on the old roster. 'Without grizzling about it, we've got 10 internationals and 11 injuries, and we had to put five props on the bench. 'They all turned up this morning hoping that they'd get on the bus, two didn't and one did and he didn't get through the warm-up. We had a reasonably good week, and in the last 15 minutes of training we lost Fraser Dingwall, Teimana Harrison and Juarno Augustus. Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd told BBC Radio Northampton: 'I've still got faith in the other lads and I'm still going to rotate them and play them, but on a wet night like this, you tend to turn to those players who have been there and come through it - and they have stepped up today.' The boys who came back in gave us a little bit of experience. He just pulls the strings like a good 10 does.

He got back into his groove and that's the AJ I expect to see for the rest of the season. 'We haven't really seen AJ this season and he's pretty much the finished article. I always like to get the bench on but he was in such a good flow and I just wanted to leave him on and he kept kicking the goals. Grayson missed one kick from in front of the posts, which summed up a disappointing night for a side who have tailed off slightly following an eye-catching start. While they were shorn of several key players because of international call-ups and injury, they were unable to capitalise. They could even afford to hand Saints plenty of chances to turn the screw after giving away penalties at mauls and scrums but Northampton were unable to take advantage in terms of points. MacGinty's kicking game eased pressure with good exit strategy alongside stout defence, to ensure a comfortable night despite the tricky conditions. This was a timely win for Sharks, who have as yet failed to hit the heights they did last season in reaching the play-offs. The home side climb to seventh, while Saints were replaced by Exeter in fourth despite the Chiefs' defeat by Newcastle - with a bonus point. Jono Ross sealed it with a short-range plunge over with the clock in the red.

Marland Yarde's try gave the hosts some second-half breathing space, before McGinty popped over another penalty.

Wow a bridge too far