Saints and Sale have evolved since opening-day clash, says Dowson

And the Saints boss knows just how big a threat the Sharks will be when they travel to cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens for a sold-out clash on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 3.05pm).

The teams go into the game separated by just a single point in the Gallagher Premiership standings, with Sale second and Saints third.

It was the Sharks who won the match earlier in the season, surviving a late Saints onslaught to secure a 20-15 success on October 15.

And Dowson said: "They're a very good side, beaten finalists last year with a point to prove.

"Clearly the squad has bought into what Alex Sanderson's trying to build there and we know they're a quality side.

"They're one above us in the league so it's a top-of-the-table clash.

"We've made progress from the beginning of pre-season and that first game was just a measuring stick as to where we were from pre-season.

"We learned a lot of lessons from that game against them, and we learn a lot of lessons each time we get out there and put a performance on the field.

"We didn't get it completely right but lots of our performance up there at Sale in the first game of the season was the stuff we wanted to improve upon and we weren't too far away from nicking it.

"Undoubtedly they've progressed throughout the time Alex Sanderson has been there in terms of how they attack. Bringing in George Ford obviously has an impact on that.

"They're a quality group and all the good sides continually evolve, and have to, to stay at the top."

Dowson was frustrated with elements of Saints' showing at Gloucester last Saturday, but he was delighted with the determination they showed as they came away with a 31-29 win.

He said: "The best thing about it was how hard we worked. You could see that in the way we scrambled, in our maul defence, in how we worked together to get that result and just about get across the line.

"Elements that weren't really up to where our standard needs to be were around the set piece, the discipline, some of our defensive stuff in terms of keeping sides out and not giving them repeat visits to our 22.

"Some of those things weren't where they have been, but we've addressed those, we need to kick on and there will be something else this week that we need to make sure is right."

Saints have seen several players step up to cover for injured team-mates in recent weeks, with Tom Litchfield the latest to shine as he moved to the wing against Gloucester.

"Losing those three guys against Toulon meant somebody had to take that position," Dowson said.

"Litch did a cracking job, it was a really good finish (for Saints’ winning try) as well.

"It’s going to be the same across different position groups because when it's big game after big game, there's no time to regroup until February so we've got to make sure we keep that pressure on and the guys who are stepping in are coming into a group that are really connected in what they're trying to do and we make it as easy as possible for them to understand it and put it on the pitch."