Northampton captain Pat Lam offered no excuses for his side's defeat by Wasps at Twickenham, but admitted that Saints need to pick up the pieces quickly to ensure they finish the season on a high.

Northampton, who now meet Saracens on Wednesday in a crucial league clash, before tackling Munster in the European Cup Final, are determined to seal qualification for next season's European competition.

But they could, feasibly, fail to do so, and Lam is determined to ensure that doesn't happen.

"We must now focus totally on our next two games," he said. "They can make or break our season."

In truth it would have been a travesty if Northampton had prevailed. They were comprehensively outplayed by their west London opponents and only scored one try, through Budge Pountney, while Wasps weighed in with four: Josh Lewsey, Trevor Leota Kenny Logan and Mark Denney all crossed the line.

Saints outhalf Paul Grayson kept his side in the match with another outstanding display of precision goalkicking; his six penalties set a Cup final scoring record.