Dowson delivers Saints injury latest ahead of Premiership battle with Bristol Bears

Fraser Dingwall became the latest player to be sent to the treatment room as he was forced off seconds into the second half of last Sunday's 20-15 defeat at Sale Sharks.

Saints already had seven players on their 'not considered for selection' list, with a further five on international duty.

So it took Dowson a few minutes to run through the list of names at Tuesday's media session.

On Dingwall, the Saints boss said: "Fraser took a bad knock to his hip area so it's really about how quickly he recovers and obviously with a short turnaround it's not ideal either.

"We're waiting for news on him. He spends a lot of time now covered in ice, resting up and trying to do the right thing."

Summer signing Burger Odendaal has yet to feature for Saints as he arrived at the club with a shoulder problem but recovered from that before suffering a hamstring injury.

"He's still a period of time away," Dowson said.

"The one thing you don't want to do is rush a recurrent hamstring injury so he'll be a bit longer."

Prop Tarek Haffar is another new recruit who has yet to make his debut for the black, green and gold.

"Tarek is a soft tissue injury but shouldn't be too far away", Dowson said.

Saints are heavily reliant on the Waller brothers at loosehead as Manny Iyogun has had to have surgery on a groin injury sustained against Bath on September 30.

"Manny has had surgery," Dowson confirmed.

George Furbank missed last Sunday's game due to a calf injury picked up against Doncaster Knights on the previous weekend.

Dowson said: "He picked up a very minor calf strain and all these soft tissue things you don't want to compound by doing them again.

"He's literally on a day-by-day and I know I say that to you a lot but he's literally on a day-by-day in terms of how much he can do."

Scrum-half Callum Braley has yet to feature in a competitive game this season.

Dowson said: "Cal is another one who is day-by-day."

Ollie Sleightholme has not featured for Saints since the Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final at London Irish back in February, while Paul Hill has not played since the Bath game on September 30.

"They're both okay," Dowson said.

"Ollie's coming back from a repeat hamstring injury and we're just being ultra-careful with him because he's had those issues in the past.

"We're being really conservative with him.

"Paul Hill is champing at the bit and he's very disappointed not to be playing. His turn will come very soon."

Saints signed Fiji lock Temo Mayanavanua ahead of this season but he has recently been at the World Cup.

However, he suffered a knee injury that ruled him out of the quarter-final against England last Sunday.

Dowson said: "He's come in (to the club).

"He obviously came back with a knee injury and he's going to be out for a few more weeks yet.

"We're going to give him a week off next week to decompress after the World Cup and he won't be doing stuff for the next month or so."

Sam Matavesi came off the bench to feature for Fiji last Sunday despite the fact his father, Sireli, passed away in the build-up to the game.

"He's not back around the club but he is back in the UK," Dowson said.

"We've given him this week off to deal with all the issues him and his family have had.

"Our hearts are with him and his family, and we're trying to think about them and support them, the Matavesi boys, all three of them.

"Sam needs some time off after the World Cup to try to get him as fresh as possible and we're blessed in the hooker position so we want to get Sam to spend a bit more time with his family and hopefully he'll come back to us a bit more refreshed and ready to go."

Juarno Augustus remains sidelined as he continues to recover from a bicep injury that Dowson has previously said will keep him out for ‘an extended period of time’.