Dowson: Gardens whitewash against Tigers left very sour taste in Saints mouths

And he insists Saints will be desperate to put things right when they host Tigers again on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3.05pm).

Last season, Tigers rocked up at the Gardens and secured a stunning 33-0 success, leaving most at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens stunned.

Saints had hoped to use the game, which was the first one back after the Guinness Six Nations, as a springboard for the rest of their Gallagher PREM campaign.

But Tigers quickly put a spanner in the works, leaving their local rivals deflated.

Saints did manage to respond that that huge setback as they eventually made it all the way to the Investec Champions Cup final.

And Dowson insists he and his players still look back on that Leicester experience to ensure it doesn't happen again.

"It left a very sour taste in a lot of people's mouths, myself included, and it's something we don't want to repeat," the Saints boss said.

"We don't want to be whitewashed at home and thoroughly embarrassed.

"Credit to Leicester on the day because they did a fantastic job on us and it really scuppered a lot of our momentum going into the run-in, but it was also one of the defining moments of our season.

"After that, our European run actually benefitted from that in terms of what we learned, the reaction of the group, the leadership that Fraser Dingwall, George Furbank, Fin Smith, Alex Coles showed at that moment because it was a big moment in the season.

"We do mention it, we do refer back to it and it did have an impact at the end of last season and it will have an impact this week."

Dowson took to the field in many East Midlands derbies during his playing career, and he has coached in plenty now, too.

"We've talked a bit this week about the derby, the importance of it, the magnitude of it in domestic rugby and how lucky we are to have Leicester on the doorstep and these games twice a year at least to get stuck into," he said.

"There's loads of history, loads of intensity and it's a great occasion.

"It's something we're all excited about from previous experience, but also the new players are particularly excited about being involved in it because they've seen it from the outside and they want to be part of it."

Tigers come into this weekend's game on a high, having roared back from 19-0 down to beat Harlequins 29-19 at Mattioli Woods Welford Road last Saturday.

And Dowson said: "They're very strong.

"I thought they were probably unlucky in the first half to be that far behind because they played pretty well.

"I read (Leicester boss) Geoff Parling's notes and he said something similar about them not converting some of their opportunities and there was a runaway try early in the second half to go 19-0 behind.

"Set piece came to the fore and it gave people like (Jack) van Poortvliet and the two very powerful, athletic wingers (Adam Radwan and Ollie Hassell-Collins) the chance to get them back in the game and they were very impressive, certainly a handful.

"Radwan has been a great addition - I've really enjoyed watching him as a player.

"Obviously having Hassell-Collins on the other side means they've got two powerful wingers.

"They've got a powerful centre with (Solomone) Kata, Billy Searle is a good distributor and van Poortvliet is one of the best nines in the world. He had a great Argentina tour (with England during the summer), he's a class act, he tore us apart here last year and I love to watch him as a player.

"The forward pack, I can name a tonne of players in there - British & Irish Lions and a heritage of set-piece dominance for a long time."