'There’s elements of Bristol’s attack that look a lot like Leinster'

Phil Dowson hailed “unbelievable” Alex Mitchell after the England scrum-half produced a man of the match showing in Northampton’s 48-31 win against Bristol.

Mitchell sparked the Saints into life after they had gone behind early on, producing a sublime solo try which ignited the atmosphere at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

Northampton went on to rack up seven tries as they made it four wins in a row in all competitions ahead of next Saturday’s Investec Champions Cup semi-final against Leinster in Dublin.

Mitchell was once again at the heart of all that was good for the Saints.

“He’s unbelievable,” director of rugby Dowson said. “He tells lies with the ball and he’s quick enough to finish that try off.

“We saw (Leicester scrum-half Jack) van Poortvliet change the momentum of the game against us and we’ got that touch from Alex Mitchell to get us back on the front foot.

“The way we played in the middle 50 minutes of the match was excellent.

“We started a bit shakily and we finished in the same vein with lots of changes and going down to 14 (due to Fraser Dingwall’s head injury assessment), but for the most part I thought we executed what we were trying to do very well in attack and defence.”

Dowson feels facing Bristol was good preparation for his side ahead of their game against Leinster.

He added: “There’s elements of Bristol’s attack that look a lot like Leinster. Leinster are very, very talented at getting the ball away in contact, they are very good at taking short sides, they’re dangerous around the fringes, so that gives us an idea.

“But every game is an opportunity to work on our performance and work out how we can be better, and that will throw loads of things up as a coaching group and as players so we can be better going forward.”

Bristol director of rugby Pat Lam has seen his side suffer three successive defeats in the Gallagher Premiership, but they remain in the top four ahead of next Saturday’s clash with Bath at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff.

“If we want to play the way we want to play, our skill levels are letting us down at the moment,” Lam said.

“Last week (in the 36-19 defeat to Leicester) we didn’t get that bonus point and that’s because we weren’t together, but today we stayed together and we got that bonus point.

“We’ve got three games to go, it’s in our control, but certainly our skill levels are letting us down at the moment.

“We’re in that top four and it’s still in our control.

“We move to the next game and this is life. It’s what you’re going to do about it and I’m seeing some big changes from the Gloucester game (a 53-28 defeat on March 29) to this game.

“I know we’re not getting the results, but there’s a lot of pride in those guys and I’m sure they’ll take ownership and try to fix stuff.

“The thing we know is that we can beat Bath and last year we went and beat Sale, and we also know we can beat Harlequins.

“We know we can do it – the fact is, can we do it? Bath are red hot at the moment, but motivation won’t be an issue and at least we go into that game in the top four.”