Saints boss Dowson delivers latest injury updates on Mitchell, Hunter-Hill and Lockett

And the director of rugby has revealed there is no timeline as yet for the England scrum-half's return to action.

Mitchell has missed the opening two matches of the Gallagher Premiership season after being forced to withdraw from the team to face Bedford Blues in the final pre-season fixture last month.

And at Tuesday's media session, Dowson said: "He's had scans, he's had some treatment and we're just waiting to see if that treatment is sufficient to get him going again.

"It's wait and see at the moment. There's genuinely no timeline because it could be anything at the moment.

"It's not me being blah to the media, it's because we don't actually know.

"It's up in the air so it's hard to make a short-term plan or a long-term plan when you don't have that information.

"But he’s feeling a bit better on the back of some time off.

"I think he's probably bored more than anything else but he's also a bit frustrated because there's no timeline to work to.”

When asked how Mitchell sustained the injury, Dowson said: "He came in one morning and he had a very sore neck. We obviously had the specialist look at it and what you don't want to do is mess around with it.

"We're trying to be quite conservative with it, give it time, the less invasive the better and we're trying to give it every opportunity."

Saints had to do without Callum Hunter-Hill against Exeter Chiefs last weekend after he was added to the injury list.

It meant the black, green and gold were stretched further in the second row department, though Alex Coles was able to start the game after recovering from his own injury.

When asked about Hunter-Hill, Dowson said: "He's just had a bit of a back issue but he's not too far away.

"Temo Mayanavanua is back from Fiji having played very well during the PNC (Pacific Nations Cup).

"Tom Lockett, I've seen him running around, lifting weights, looking a bit more like himself and being allowed to play with the other boys as opposed to being locked in the gym on his own.

"It's exciting that those lads are just around the corner because it's forever changing."

Saints drafted in two new locks last week as experienced duo Will Spencer and Gavin Thornbury signed on short-term deals.

And Dowson said: “They’re good. Both of them have been out of rugby for a period of time so what we want to do is help them with that transition.

"The worst thing you can do is bring someone in and they get injured immediately so we want to make sure that transition is smooth, we can get them into full-time training and then when that opportunity arises they will be in the best position to take their chance.”