'Emotionally invested' Falcons to provide huge test for Dowson's Saints

The black, green and gold travel to Newcastle Falcons knowing that they must win to keep their Gallagher Premiership play-off hopes alive.

That is because London Irish are just two points behind Saints in the standings and still have two games, against Saracens and Exeter Cheifs, to play.

But Saints will not have it easy at Newcastle, who have made their home ground something of a fortress this season.

Bristol Bears, Exeter, Sale Sharks, Leicester Tigers and Gloucester have all been beaten there in the Gallagher Premiership.

And Dowson, a former Newcastle player, said: "They're very good at home, they're very emotionally invested in what they're doing.

"They fight for each other, they've got some outstanding and dangerous players so we're under no illusions as to how good they are and the results they've had at home.

"The only thing we can control is our performance.

"We can train well, which we have this week, we can make sure we're in the right mindset to go away from home and get a win.

"All we can do now is put our best foot forward on Friday.

"We can only control our actions so we need to make those as positive and aggressive as we can."

But while Newcastle have been formidable at home, Saints have been far from that away.

The black, green and gold have only won twice on the road in the league this season, beating Wasps and Leicester Tigers.

The win at Tigers in January was full of grit and determination as Saints toughed it out.

And Dowson would love to see that sort of resilient showing from his side, who have endured real defensive struggles throughout the season, on Friday night.

"There's been elements of that (resilience) away from home in different games and we've just fallen off at different times," Dowson said.

"We're not the only club who struggle with it. The only two sides who have been consistently good away from home have been Sale and Saracens, and they're the top two.

"We've only won once away from home but there's loads of sides like that and that's why the league's so close, because teams are winning at home but not away.

"In that Leicester game, we managed to take our opportunities when they came and we defended as if our lives depended on it.

"We did that for 80 minutes and although we weren't perfect, we were focused the whole time and we need to try to generate some of that mental consistency in what we're doing."