Dowson urges Saints to stay grounded as more key matches beckon in February

The black, green and gold delivered a fine away display to see off Leicester Tigers 19-18.

It meant Saints finished the weekend sitting fourth in the Gallagher Premiership standings, and they do not return to league action until February 18, when Sale Sharks come to cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens.

Saints have no game this weekend, but they do have a Premiership Rugby Cup semi-final at London Irish to look forward to on February 10.

And Dowson said: "We're going to train this week.

"There will be some players who've played loads of minutes who will get some time off, but we'll do it on a case by case basis.

"We've got to make sure we don't get too high because after the Quins game (which Saints won 46-17 on New Year’s Day), Sam (Vesty) said we maybe got a bit carried away.

"We need to make sure we've got our feet on the ground because we've got a semi-final coming up and then we've got Sale, who are second in the table, turning up at our place.

"We've got to make sure we're still working and doing those right things to make sure we're more consistent throughout the games."

Saints' defensive defiance stood out against Leicester as they claimed a precious away win that lifted them three points above Tigers in the table.

And Dowson added: "The players to a man were outstanding in terms of running the game plan and running it really aggressively and sticking in it when it was tense and there was pressure.

"It showed a lot of what we were working on and that was really pleasing."