Dowson feels Saints will take huge belief from memorable win in South Africa

The black, green and gold were under real pressure for long periods at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in South Africa on Saturday afternoon, but they eventually prevailed.

Tommy Freeman finished things off with the bonus-point try two minutes from time, meaning Saints have taken a maximum 10 points from their opening two Investec Champions Cup matches this season.

And Dowson knows what a shot in the arm it will be for his squad to have come through such a tough test in the heat and altitude of Pretoria.

"We looked at the Bulls' home record and saw how strong it was at Loftus Versfeld," said Dowson. "I think it's only Munster and Glasgow in knockout games who have been able to get a win here.

"In terms of momentum in the season, this gives us a lot of confidence in our game. That's what the players spoke about afterwards in terms of we're very, very competitive when we get it right.

"Coming to these tough environments, you find out a lot about yourself, and we answered a lot of questions today in terms of how we approach those challenges. We met them head on and showed enough guts to produce a performance that will hopefully push us forward throughout the season."

Dowson added: "We spoke a lot about the challenge that sat around this game with the altitude, the temperature and clearly the opposition.

"It's the heartland of South African rugby, a squad packed full of internationals and it was a really good challenge for us, which we were very excited about.

"We're delighted with our preparation week and it's been great for us to get away from the cold and the wet in the UK and have a week together.

"We haven't had a pre-season trip for a while so even just to be on the bus together to and from training has been very valuable.

"For the players to put a performance in like that was incredible."

Saints were down to 14 men at one point as Manny Iyogun was sin-binned just before the break, but Dowson's side actually scored during that period to regain the lead.

They pushed on in the second period before being pegged back to a single-point lead, but Freeman's score, made by some Rory Hutchinson magic, put the seal on a memorable success.

"There were a couple of momentum swings," Dowson said.

"There was a period of time after half-time where we were down to 14 men and we defended by the skin of the teeth and immediately won a penalty.

"Those swings of the game kept us in it.

"The Bulls obviously fought back with two tries that made it 22-21 at one point but we still managed to keep playing and sticking to what we were good at."