'If you're not quite at it, you're going to get found out' - Dowson steels Saints for trip to Saracens
At StoneX Stadium, Saints will be up against a Saracens side who have won five successive matches.
But Dowson said: “It's very exciting, a really good opportunity for us to go and test ourselves against the reigning champions and one of the form sides, packed full of talent.
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Hide Ad"We have to be consistent, we have to make sure that all facets of our game - attack, defence, set piece - are as high-end in terms of performance as we can possibly get.
"If you're not quite at it, you're going to get found out.”
Saints suffered Premiership play-off semi-final heartache at Saracens, losing 38-15 at StoneX Stadium back in May.
Dowson said: “The semi-final is one of those that, on the big stage, we maybe didn't fire enough shots in the first half and we were a bit reticent to really get our game on the field.
"At half-time, we said 'let's have a look at it, let's get stuck in' and we came back into it.
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Hide Ad"We need to be able to do it from the word go and under massive pressure from Sarries.”
Confidence will be key if Saints are to overcome a Saracens side who will be strong favourites once again.
And Dowson said: “This group is garnering that belief.
“We've shown we can win games in different ways and I feel like we're getting more trust and focus on our defence, we're getting a bit more of our attacking intent on the pitch and the set piece is slowly but surely improving as well.”