Dowson delivers latest injury update ahead of Saints' trip to Saracens

Sleightholme was forced to miss England's summer tour due to injury, and he was only able to make 12 appearances for his club last season.

The hugely talented 25-year-old did not play for Saints between December 28 and the time he returned as an early replacement in the Investec Champions Cup final on May 24.

He was able to come through the match in Cardiff unscathed and started on the wing seven days later as Saints finished their campaign with a league game at Gloucester.

Sleightholme would have hoped to go on tour with England to face Argentina and USA, but injury saw him sidelined for that.

And he is now set to miss the start of the new season, with Saints beginning their campaign with a PREM Rugby Cup trip to Saracens on Friday night.

At Tuesday's pre-match media session, Dowson said: "Ollie's had a bit of a setback with his hamstring so we're looking after him.

"We're a bit unsure of the timeline because we've been down this road a couple of times with Ollie so we want to make sure we nip it in the bud."

Another player who won't feature against Saracens is hooker Curtis Langdon, who posted a post-surgery picture on Instagram last week.

"He's had surgery so he'll be out for a while, which is a shame because Curt's been integral to our success over the past couple of years," said Dowson, who confirmed Langdon's injury was 'around the shoulder' area.

"But if you play a lot, you're generally going to get injured at some point so we'll look after him over the next couple of months."

Also on the recent 'not considered for selection’ lists have been prop Tom West and Australian flanker Josh Kemeny.

"He (Kemeny) had an operation over the summer so he's coming back from that," Dowson said.

"He joined in with skills this week and he's not too far away."

On West, who picked up an injury in the defeat at Exeter Chiefs back on May 11, Dowson said: "He's not too far away.

"He's started running and he'll join in with some rugby next week."

Centre Fraser Dingwall and full-back George Furbank were ruled out of England's summer tour, but both have been training with the Red Rose at their alignment camp during the past few days.

"They're progressing nicely as it stands," Dowson said.

"I haven't heard any fall-out from the England camp as yet so hopefully they've survived that and we can get them in on Thursday and ready for Friday night."