Dowson outlines how Saints will spend their time while in South Africa

The black, green and gold will fly to Pretoria on Monday night ahead of their Investec Champions Cup clash with Vodacom Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday (kick-off 1pm GMT).

Dowson has been checking the weather forecast and seen that temperatures above 30c are expected all week.

The Saints boss said: "I checked and it's very hot. Hopefully it's not as windy!

"There's loads of different challenges.

"We spoke about the Bulls last season when they didn't send their full strength side (for the Champions Cup quarter-final which Saints won at the Gardens). We spoke about them wanting to be the most physical side in the world.

"They play at altitude, they don't lose many games at Loftus Versfeld at altitude and they will be gunning for this competition.

"We're excited about that as a challenge because the best thing about this competition is that we're playing against some of the best sides in the world. That (Loftus Versfeld) is traditionally famously one of the best places to play."

When asked how things will pan out for Saints this week, Dowson said: "We'll fly Monday evening and all the players will be in business class, all the staff are in economy minus.

"We'll have a slow Tuesday morning and then Tuesday afternoon we'll train.

"Wednesday we'll be off and there's some activities and bits and pieces organised while we're out there.

"Thursday is another training day, Friday will be quite light and Saturday we'll get stuck in."

He added: "It is disruptive but it's also really enjoyable because we're going to a part of the world that not everyone goes to.

"If you're flying to South Africa you probably go to Cape Town, Durban and you go on safari.

"Pretoria is one of the capitals, it has huge history and we're excited about putting ourselves under that pressure and seeing something different."

Saints centre Burger Odendaal knows all about life in Pretoria as he made 111 appearances for the Bulls.

Odendaal is currently out with a knee injury but he will be taking on the role of tour guide and chef this week.

"He's actually going to do a braai (barbecue) for us on the Tuesday night so he's going to be cooking and he's been helping out with some of the logistics," Dowson said.

"One of the things we've talked about in the past is embracing that cultural difference and seeing what it looks like out there.

"There's an opportunity for lads to go on safari, to do different things out there.

"We're trying to do some charity work out there as well.

"We want to learn about what it's like to be out in South Africa and then beat them."