England centre Fraser Dingwall says Northampton cannot use the pre-match loss of second row Tom Lockett as an excuse for defeat by Leicester Tigers.
Lockett had to pull out of the game at Mattioli Woods Welford Road during the warm-up, with Chunya Munga drafted into the Saints starting XV as his replacement.
Prem leaders Northampton had three players shown yellow cards as they went down 41-17, only their second league defeat of the season.
“You prep the whole week with him [Lockett] calling the line-outs, and that’s something he’s a big part of, but we back everyone to come in and do a job – and Chunya, who stepped up, did a really good job,” Dingwall told BBC Radio Northampton.
“It’s always frustrating losing people just before the game, but that isn’t the reason we lost, there’s way more to it than that.
“We’re missing the tiny details, that’s all it is. You launch better, you get your delivery in terms of your settings better, and all of a sudden you’re imposing your game onto them and they are the ones having to give away penalties instead of us.”
