Dowson delivers Saints injury latest ahead of Investec Champions Cup opener

Centre Litchfield scored during the second half of the 46-12 Gallagher PREM defeat at Bristol Bears, with Saints going down to 14 men as they had no more replacements available to use.

Prop West had come on during the first half with Saints under pressure at scrum time, but he suffered an injury from the final play of the match while trying to defend a maul that Bristol ultimately scored from.

And when asked for an update on the duo at this Wednesday's media session, Dowson said: "Tom West has had a scan on his knee, he'll be out for a period of time, and Litch's hamstring is damaged so he'll be out."

Ollie Sleightholme was at last week's media session but he did not feature against Bristol.

"He's coming back from an ankle knock," Dowson said.

There is plenty of good news for Saints this week though as they welcome back several of their international stars after giving them last week off following the conclusion of the autumn action.

Danilo Fischetti, Elliot Millar Mills, Alex Coles, Henry Pollock, Alex Mitchell and even Fraser Dingwall, who was forced to miss England's final match of the Quilter Nations Series, have been pictured in training.

"It's brilliant," said Dowson when asked how good it is to have so many key figures back.

"They'd played a lot of rugby over the past month so they needed a break and they went to different parts of the world to recover and recuperate.

"They bring a freshness and an energy back in, particularly at a time when we need it.

"In an ideal world they would all have that week (off) straight after the internationals. It's not always possible but we felt with the minutes that Mitch and Colesy particularly played, and having played very well, they needed that.

"From chatting to Henry and with the back row strength we have, we felt it was the right thing to do (to give him last week off)."

Dowson said last week that James Ramm had returned to training and he has now confirmed that Anthony Belleau is back from a hamstring issue.

"He's back fully fit so he's definitely in the mixer," the Saints boss said of Belleau.

Influential hooker Curtis Langdon, who has not been able to feature during this campaign, remains sidelined after having surgery to rectify a shoulder problem sustained late last season.

The initial estimate for Langdon's return was after Christmas.

"He's talking a lot, he's running a lot and it's a slow process with a nerve injury because you've got to make sure you do it the right way," Dowson said.

"He's probably a little bit bored and a little bit frustrated, but he's just about behaving himself."

Tom Lockett has been recovering from a leg injury, while Chunya Munga and George Hendy were going through concussion protocols last week.

Tommy Freeman remains sidelined with the hamstring issue he picked up while on England duty, while Edoardo Todaro is now serving a two-match ban after being shown a 20-minute red card for taking Bristol fly-half Sam Worsley out in the air little more than a minute into last Saturday's match at Ashton Gate.