'If you're not quite at it, you're going to get found out' - Dowson steels Saints for trip to Saracens

At StoneX Stadium, Saints will be up against a Saracens side who have won five successive matches.

But Dowson said: “It's very exciting, a really good opportunity for us to go and test ourselves against the reigning champions and one of the form sides, packed full of talent.

"We have to be consistent, we have to make sure that all facets of our game - attack, defence, set piece - are as high-end in terms of performance as we can possibly get.

"If you're not quite at it, you're going to get found out.”

Saints suffered Premiership play-off semi-final heartache at Saracens, losing 38-15 at StoneX Stadium back in May.

Dowson said: “The semi-final is one of those that, on the big stage, we maybe didn't fire enough shots in the first half and we were a bit reticent to really get our game on the field.

"At half-time, we said 'let's have a look at it, let's get stuck in' and we came back into it.

"We need to be able to do it from the word go and under massive pressure from Sarries.”

Confidence will be key if Saints are to overcome a Saracens side who will be strong favourites once again.

And Dowson said: “This group is garnering that belief.

“We were disappointing at Leicester but at Sale we sort of banged and we were there or thereabouts.

“We've shown we can win games in different ways and I feel like we're getting more trust and focus on our defence, we're getting a bit more of our attacking intent on the pitch and the set piece is slowly but surely improving as well.”