'Lively' and 'spicy' start to derby week as Saints boss Dowson makes selection decisions

The director of rugby, speaking at Monday afternoon’s media session, says he has already made some selection decisions ahead of the huge home clash with Leicester Tigers on Friday night (kick-off 7.45pm).

And when asked what the mood is like at Saints during the early stages of the build-up to the Tigers battle, boss Dowson replied: “Lively.

“You start the season and this is the game you want to play in, along with European knockout games as well.

“We've worked incredibly hard to get to this point and we want to enjoy this week.

“The boys came in banging.

“We've made some selection decisions and some of those boys are disappointed, as you can imagine, so we've balanced it up and made sure we're pointing in the right direction.”

When asked how Saints will manage the emotion of the week, Dowson said: “I don't think we need to ramp anyone up, and we don't need to ramp anyone up most weeks, I'd hope.

“The occasion is exciting enough.

“We need to see this as a special occasion, special opportunity but the performance needs to be a normal performance.

“We need to understand our game's good enough, that we've got more than enough credit in the bank in terms of how hard we've trained and it's proven to be successful when we get it right.

“We're not trying to do anything different, anything special - the way we do it might be special in terms of the intensity and physicality we bring to the table, but what we're doing is not going to change.”

Dowson, who confirmed Sam Graham has passed his head injury assessment after coming off against Harlequins, was able to rest some key men for trip to the Twickenham Stoop last Saturday.

But they did train last week and are now fully preparing for the play-off semi-final.

"We obviously rested some players and we obviously wanted those guys to train today (Monday),” Dowson explained. “In order for those guys to train, some of the guys who played on Saturday had to train as well, and do a tiny bit more than usual. There are levels we need to make sure we maintain.

"It got spicy today, because why wouldn’t it?

“It’s a Leicester semi-final, everyone’s geed up. If I’ve picked you, you’re fired up because you’re going to play, if I haven’t picked you, you’re fired up because you’re pretty p***** off so there’s managing that today.

"But they generally manage themselves or I’ll just give the key signal to Sharpey (transition manager and kicking coach Jake Sharp) like ‘simmer down, this is a skill rotation, not a full-on game’.”