Saints full of intent as Dowson looks forward to trip to Bath

The black, green and gold have already secured a home play-off semi-final in the Gallagher Premiership after cruising to a 90-0 win against Gloucester last Saturday.

That means Saints could take the chance to rest players against Bath, but Dowson was giving little away in terms of his team selection when asked after the Gloucester game.

He did, however, insist they will not be taking the trip to The Rec lightly.

"It (team selection) is not something I've considered hugely," the Saints boss said.

"Bath are obviously a very good side, particularly at home, and we've got to try to maintain the momentum and keep pushing our performance.

"We've only talked this season about our performance and not necessarily the results so we'll keep pushing for those sorts of things.

"We go to The Rec fully loaded from an intent point of view and from a physicality point of view and see where we end up."

Saints may have secured a top-two spot, but Dowson added: "They don't hand out any medals or trophies for that so we make sure we acknowledge that and make sure it drives our energy moving forward."

Saints had suffered back-to-back defeats prior to last weekend as they lost to Harlequins and Leinster.

And Dowson was delighted with the way his side bounced back as they continued a strong season in style with the 14-try demolition of Gloucester.

"I've been immensely proud of this group from minute one in terms of their application, their closeness and how connected they are," he said.

"I don't need to wait for a 90-0 game to be proud of them.

"I was very proud of them in Dublin in terms of their effort, very proud of how they handled themselves, how they work week to week and look after each other.

"We march on to the next one.

"We enjoy what we've done and make sure that on Monday, we're ready to go for Bath."