'We weren't at it', says Dowson after Saints snatch late win against Gloucester

The director of rugby felt his side failed to bring ‘the right mindset into the game’ and says they ‘made so many unforced errors’.

However, the black, green and gold were able to get the job done late on as George Furbank’s score in the final seconds of the match secured a thrilling success.

"We made it hard work and also Gloucester made it hard work,” Saints boss Dowson said. “They played very well.

"We weren't at it, there were loads of uncharacteristic mistakes and we haven't brought the right mindset into the game. We made so many unforced errors.

"We did loads of good stuff as well. It's not like we weren't trying, but we weren't clinical, we weren't precise, we weren't executing our jobs to a good enough degree.

"If we're going to sit here and say we go after performance and we're not overly worried about results to a point, we have to drive performance and say it wasn't good enough.”

Saints have now secured a home play-off semi-final that will take place on Friday, June 12 (kick-off 7.45pm).

“It gives us a chance,” Dowson said. “That's all we've done.

"I am a bit annoyed at the moment, but the commitment and the consistency of the group has been excellent, and I could never fault that.

"I want to make sure we get our performance right against Quins and for that to allow us to go into a short week ahead of the semi-final with really good momentum.”