Northampton Saints backs coach Alex King has praised his side's youngsters for showing the resilience needed to bounce back and beat Newcastle Falcons.

The Saints fell behind within five minutes of their LV= Cup meeting at Franklin's Gardens when Tom Catterick crossed over, but they soon capitalised on Alesana Tuilagi's yellow to claim a 37-23 victory.

"It was great for the youngsters and the whole week has been brilliant," King told reporters. "We've had a lot of enthusiasm with guys playing for the first time on the hallowed turf here and the crowd were brilliant.

"It wasn't perfect by any means with the start we got but we responded superbly. We had some experienced guys out there and they calmed things down. We couldn't ask for more and we're delighted for the guys.

"There were a lot of changes but these guys work really hard and this was the reward for the work they put in during the weeks when the international guys are here. We talk about playing in our systems every week, whether that's in defence or attack."

Next up for Northampton is a trip to face Scarlets in European action.