Dowson believes Saints will have learned a lot from big victory against Bears

The black, green and gold were at their brilliant best against Bristol, scoring seven tries in front of a sell-out crowd at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

Saints will now move on to Dublin, where they will face much-fancied Leinster at the Aviva Stadium.

And Dowson feels the victory against a slick Bristol side will have been useful for his men.

"There's elements of Bristol's attack that look a lot like Leinster," Dowson said. "Leinster are very, very talented at getting the ball away in contact, they are very good at taking short sides, they're dangerous around the fringes, so that gives us an idea.

"But every game is an opportunity to work on our performance and work out how we can be better, and that will throw loads of things up as a coaching group and as players so we can be better going forward."

Saints had gone 5-0 down early on against Bristol, who saw a try ruled out soon after.

But the black, green and gold bounced back in style, taking real control as they racked up the try bonus point before the break.

They kept their foot on the gas early in the second half before a late flourish from Bristol handed the Bears a try bonus point of their own.

"The way we played in the middle 50 minutes of the match was excellent," Dowson said.

"We started a bit shakily and we finished in the same vein with lots of changes and going down to 14 (due to Fraser Dingwall's head injury assessment), but for the most part I thought we executed what we were trying to do very well in attack and defence."

Alex Mitchell was at the heart of Saints' excellent attacking showing, scoring a sensational solo try that served as the catalyst for his side.

And Dowson said: "He's unbelievable. He tells lies with the ball and he's quick enough to finish that try off.

"We saw (Jack) van Poortvliet here again us change the momentum of the game, and we got that touch from Alex Mitchell to get us back on the front foot."