Dowson's Saints relishing another big battle with 'outstanding' Bordeaux

The black, green and gold travel to Stade Chaban-Delmas to take on a Union Bordeaux Bègles side who beat them 28-20 in the showpiece in Cardiff back in May.

Both teams are in fantastic form, with Saints having thrashed Harlequins 66-21 last Saturday evening and Bordeaux having battered Racing 92 62-20 later that day.

Both sides have picked up 10 points from a possible 10 in the Champions Cup pool stages so far this season, with Saints beating Section Paloise and Vodacom Bulls and Bordeaux defeating the Bulls and Scarlets.

And ahead of Sunday's massive encounter in France, Dowson said: "It's huge, a re-run of last year's final.

"Credit to them because they're an outstanding group and they've carried on where they left off in lots of ways.

"Watching them against Bulls away, watching them play Toulon, which was the game I watched before we played last weekend - they've been outstanding.

"They're a very, very high quality group of players, a high quality coaching group and some continuity from last season as well.

"It's a really big challenge for us and it's exactly why we love the tournament because we're playing one of the best sides in Europe.

"We get to go there and measure ourselves.

"We're happy with where we are as a squad but we also know that our training level, our consistency, our application of fundamentals is what has given us this opportunity and we have to adhere to those things."

Saints have secured five successive bonus-point wins in all competitions ahead of their trip to France.

Dowson said: “We're feeling good, we're in a good run of form, but as Sam (Vesty) would often say - you're only as good as your next game. And the next game is a tough one!

“We can focus on some of our recent performances as a guide to what we've been doing well and what we need to improve, but fundamentally we need to focus on what we need to do this week and make sure we're in the right space for it.”

So can Saints take some of what they learned from last season’s Champions Cup final into this weekend’s clash?

"They're still a very high quality side, backed up by their Top 14 form, particularly at home,” Dowson said.

“A lot of the main characters (are still there), the coaching group is very consistent so it's a lot of the same themes we looked at last year.

“You take those experiences both good and bad and we try to make sure we've learned from those to push on, but it's easier said than done with the quality of players they have.

“That experience will have taught us something about how they want to play and how hard it is to play against them, so hopefully we'll be better for it this week.”