Saints forwards coach Dowson gives his reaction to Saracens' salary cap punishment

The club from Allianz Park have been deducted 35 Gallagher Premiership points, leaving them on minus 26 after three games of the current campaign.

They were also hit with a £5,360,272.31 fine, but Saracens have decided to appeal the decision, issuing a strong riposte.

As it stands, Saints sit a massive 40 points ahead of the reigning champions, who they beat on the opening day of the season, in the Premiership standings.

But when it was suggested Saints are now almost guaranteed to finish above Saracens this season, Dowson said: "I don't think so because what we did at the start of the year was we talked about how competitive the league was going to be.

"I don't think it will change a huge amount.

"Obviously it's a huge ask for Sarries, but I've got no doubt they will collect enough wins to get back in the black.

"As far as we're concerned, we'll continue to concentrate on ourselves and we'll not worry too much with what happens elsewhere."

Dowson heard the news just before heading into Saints' weekly media session.

And he added: "It's obviously pretty new - we just had the news about 15 minutes ago so I haven't really read the press release yet.

"It's obviously a huge fine and a huge reduction of points as well so it shows how seriously PRL have taken it.

"Other than that, we haven't had any other speculation as yet."