Northampton Saints: Phil Dowson praises players for finishing top

In the lead up to winning the competition in 2024, Saints were in a similar position to where they find themselves now – top of the standings with a round of fixtures still remaining.

On the final weekend of that season, Dowson decided to rotate his starting XV – making 13 changes from the team that thrashed Gloucester 90-0 seven days prior – and they succumbed to a 43-12 defeat by Bath at The Rec.

Dowson believes that Saturday’s match at Harlequins [15:15 BST] will be another opportunity to rest a number of regular starters while handing starts to members of the squad with less minutes under their belts before the post-season shake-up.

“We’ve got to make sure we balance that up and keep the momentum through Quins, but also look after the guys that are highly minuted and make sure they’re good for a Friday night. It’s a short turnaround, so we’ve got to bear that in mind,” he said.

“We’ve got to make sure that we get the intensity right for the players that need it, and we need to take the intensity away from the players we think need that.”

Dowson continued: “When you get to this point of this season, the top four, five teams are all very good. Whoever you’re playing [in the semi-finals], we know there will be different challenges, and understand that it’s going to be very tough.”