Northampton Saints coach Jim Mallinder has admitted that his side must still "sharpen up" on a few aspects of their game having climbed to the summit of the Aviva Premiership table.

The Saints survived a second-half fightback to record a 19-12 victory over London Irish at the Madejski Stadium today and move into top spot.

"We knew if we won today we'd go top of the league and that's what it's all about – winning – and then you look forward to next week," the Northants Herald & Post quotes Mallinder as saying.

"They played well today, particularly in the second half and put us under pressure. There are a couple of things we need to sharpen up on, after we scored they seemed to score again, we need to look at that, but generally we are pleased.

"We had a really good first half, we could have scored another right at the end and we had the chance to score a good try in the second. When you come away you base it on your defence and I think ours was outstanding today. It's a long season and you need a big squad playing well. You can't have the same 23 players playing all the time."

Northampton are back in action next weekend when they host Sale Sharks.