'Those boys are legends' - Saints boss Dowson salutes Graham and Smith for attitude to recovery

Both players were ruled out early last season, with Graham suffering his injury against Leicester Tigers on October 12 and Smith sustaining his in the game against Sale Sharks on October 18.

Neither forward was able to return before the campaign ended, though Graham was not too far away.

And Dowson has nothing but praise for how the pair handled their huge personal setbacks.

"Those two boys are legends," the Saints boss said.

"You talk to the physios and they say 'these lads are legends' because they're spending every day with them, and Sam Graham and Robbie come in and they say 'I want to do more, I want to do it faster, I want to be back sooner'.

"Burger (Odendaal) was someone who really led on that as well, and Sam and Robbie have been excellent.

"They've been frustrated, annoyed and gutted to be missing out on all the joy of the (Investec Champions Cup) semi-final and final, and they see games like (the ones Saints lost to) Leicester and Gloucester and that hurts them because they're powerless to have an impact on those.

"We're excited about getting them back.

"Sam's going great guns.

"Robbie had a more serious knee injury than Sam. Sam did his ACL very badly, Robbie had three different operations, ACL, his tendon and a cartilage issue so he had a triple threat kind of thing.

"Robbie is coming back but he'll just take slightly longer."

Saints had numerous other injury issues towards the end of the season.

And Dowson has given an update on some of those sidelined stars.

"Tom West is recovering from a foot operation, Archie McParland will probably play in the Under-20s World Cup so he's not too far away," Dowson said.

"George Hendy is recovering, Will Glister is recovering, George Furbank is in a pretty good space and in the long term he'll be okay.

"James Ramm is in a boot. I saw him on the beach (at Saints' end-of-season holiday) with an air boot on so I'm sure that's covered in sand and (head physio) Matt Lee will be delighted."