Dowson: Saints must stick together

That tricky patch was preceded by 13 wins in a row, but things have unravelled slightly since the LV= Cup final defeat to Exeter.

Sale and Leicester have beaten Saints in the Aviva Premiership, with the latter ending the 100 per cent home league record of Jim Mallinder’s men.

But flanker Dowson is not too fazed by recent results and says he and his team-mates must regroup ahead of Thursday’s Amlin Challenge Cup quarter-final at Sale Sharks.

“We’ve got to stick together,” said the 32-year-old. “We’ve gone eight months of the season playing well and a couple of losses doesn’t make us a bad team.

“We’ve got to stick to what we’ve been doing and working hard. It’s not necessarily about never losing, it’s about getting back up and getting stuck in.”

Dowson is delighted that there is such a short turnaround ahead of the return to action at Sale on Thursday night.

And he feels Saints have seen enough of the Sharks to know what kind of performance they will need to produce if they are to bounce back in style.

“It’s great that we’ve got a game so soon to get it out of your system,” said Dowson. “You want to abolish those memories of the Leicester game and the Sale game, so I’m keen to play.

“It’s a case of learning exactly what Sale will bring to the table and we saw against Bath how resolute they are over the ball, with (Dan) Braid and (Dave) Seymour playing well.

“We’ve know what levels we need to get to to get a win up there. It’s a tough place to play but these are the challenges and we look forward to them.”