Dowson delivers Saints injury latest ahead of trip to Gloucester

And there are set to be more names added to the 'not considered for selection' section after Craig Wright, Trevor Davison and Sam Graham were forced off with head injuries in the 33-33 draw against Exeter Chiefs last Sunday.

Wright came off after just four minutes to be replaced by Henry Walker, who went on to finish the game.

Elliot Millar Mills replaced Davison after 21 minutes, while Graham had to come off eight minutes from time, having only just replaced Callum Chick, who had to return to the field for the remainder of the contest.

Saints were already without 15 players for last weekend's game, including their four British & Irish Lions stars - Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith and Tommy Freeman - who remain absent this Sunday due to their mandatory rest period which does not end until the following week.

With Mitchell still unavailable, Saints would have hoped to have been able to call on Tom James to add experience at scrum-half, but he was on the injured list last weekend.

"We're still trying to get to the bottom of what's up with Tom James's foot so we're hoping we can get some clarity on that soon," said Saints boss Phil Dowson at Tuesday's pre-Gloucester media session.

Another experienced and important player Saints have been without is England full-back George Furbank.

And when asked how Furbank is progressing, Dowson this week said: "Slowly. We want to make sure there's no more setbacks so we're going very slowly with George."

Also on the 'not considered for selection list' last weekend were Emeka Atuanya, Amena Caqusau, Josh Kemeny, Curtis Langdon, Tom Lockett, Chunya Munga, Charlie Ulcoq, Ollie Sleightholme and Tom West.

Lockett would appear to be one of the most likely candidates to return soon as he was going through concussion protocols last week.

Another man closing in on a comeback is Robbie Smith, who has not played for Saints since suffering a serious knee injury in the win against Sale Sharks last October.

The Scotland international recently made his return in a game for Bedford Blues, scoring against Ampthill earlier this month, and he is now ready to add extra depth at hooker, which is much needed with Langdon and Wright both sidelined.

"I'm delighted for Robbie because we talked about how well Sam (Graham) had done to get back, and Robbie had a far more serious injury in his knee, had three different operations on it, three different elements that needed to be dealt with,” Dowson said.

"It’s been a long road for Robbie, it was his birthday last week and I’m delighted he’s back in and training, fit and available for selection.”