Dowson full of praise for key duo after Saints see off Harlequins

Sleightholme scored two tries on his first start since February, while Furbank pulled the strings from fly-half in the absence of Fin Smith.

The Academy products helped Saints to secure a bonus-point 36-33 win at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

And Furbank was named man of the match at the final whistle.

"He's played international rugby at 10 and he's a consummate footballer," Dowson said of Furbank.

"He's got time on the ball, he creates space for other people and he's got a really good head on his shoulders.

"He's very balanced and his kicking has come on leaps and bounds, both out of hand and off the floor.

"It's fantastic to have that opportunity to give Fin some time to make sure he's 100 per cent is a really big asset for us.

"He's a very intellectual guy, a bright fella and he speaks very well, too."

Saints have been managing Sleightholme carefully on his return from concussion and hamstring injuries.

And Dowson revealed he was actually due to play for Bedford Blues as part of his journey back to regular starts for Saints, but the black, green and gold needed to call on the winger due to injuries.

"A lot of the stuff Ollie does around the contact area, he's a bit of a brute, he's very aggressive," Dowson said.

"He's had a long run of injuries so we've been pretty conservative in his return to play and the plan actually was for him to play for Bedford tomorrow but with a couple of knocks we've had, we brought him in and he's picked it up and gone full on with it.

"I'm delighted for Ollie to come back in after what has been a really frustrating pre-season for him."

Saints delivered an impressive team performance to ensure they bounced back in style from their derby-day defeat at Leicester Tigers six days earlier.

And Dowson said: "We're obviously delighted against a side who had a big point to prove after their defeat to Saracens. We know how good Quins are.

"We made it difficult for ourselves at times and we're clearly not happy with conceding so many points, but we're very happy with the attitude and application of the players throughout.

"Knowing our group of players and the team as we do, there was always going to be a reaction, but we've got to get to a point where we don't need a performance like the one up at Leicester to get that reaction.

"We clearly need more consistency and we're always pushing for that, but it's a tough league and we saw that again this evening."

Saints lost Lewis Ludlam and James Ramm to injury just before the break.

And Dowson said: "Neither of those look good.

"I've seen both of them in a boot and so we'll have to wait and see what various doctors, scans and surgeons say about that."