Dowson: Coventry cup win stood Saints in good stead for victory against Castres

A couple of weeks ago, the black, green and gold managed to prevail in torrid conditions at the Butts Park Arena as they beat a tough Coventry side 19-10.

And with the weather similar, if not even worse, against Castres, Saints got the job done again, this time far more comfortably as they cruised to an Investec Champions Cup victory.

"We talked about how important this competition was to us last year, how much we enjoyed it and I thought that was reflected in the way we performed today," Saints boss Dowson said. "We were up for the battle in pretty dreadful conditions.

"It was a good challenge because we found out how we could deal with that (weather).

"It was a good thing that we played Coventry in something similar a fortnight ago so we've been in those conditions recently and it gave us a good chance to execute today.

"I thought Fin Smith and Alex Mitchell were excellent in dealing with that (the conditions)."

It was the ideal way for Saints to bounce back from the disappointing 25-17 Gallagher Premiership loss at home to Gloucester a week earlier.

And Dowson said: "It was a response from last week because we were were very disappointed with our first half against Gloucester.

"We talked a lot about how we start games, how we create continuity, how we bring intensity - all those words that are just words really.

"We saw it in action today and I thought the start was a reflection of how we prepared."

Saints scored six tries in total while conceding just one at the other end.

"Sometimes those are the best things in terms of our hard work, our effort, our intensity and our physicality," Dowson said when asked about his side's defensive desire.

"You see it when you're under pressure and things like our breakdown, our kick chase, our defence on our own line were excellent for long parts of the game.

"Our discipline would still be a question mark but actually the lads are trying to bang and we commend them for that."