'Release the hounds' - Dowson let Hinkley off the leash in Saints win

Hinkley had been left out of the matchday squad for the previous week's defeat at Bath, but he was back with a vengeance against the Bears.

The 23-year-old flanker produced an all-action showing, capped with a superb offload that led to a key second-half try for James Grayson, as Saints went on to bag a bonus-point 45-31 Gallagher Premiership home win.

And Dowson said: "He (Hinkley) was brilliant.

"I've been trying to keep him on a leash, and today was the time to release the hounds.

"He was excellent, his work rate is second to none and he has huge desire to be successful.

"You see his quality around the pitch in terms of his defensive effort, in terms of that offload for the score in the second half - it was absolutely brilliant.

"I was really pleased for Aaron and he's a quality player."

Saints had dropped to seventh in the league standings prior to the weekend as their bonus-point win at Wasps had been wiped off after the Coventry-based club's suspension from the Premiership.

So the victory against Bristol was a welcome boost for the black, green and gold, even if there remains plenty of room for improvement.

"The first two minutes weren't great, conceding penalties and a maul try, but the first half was excellent," Dowson said.

"We fell off in the second half and that wasn't good enough so we'll have to focus on that to be better.

"Our penalty count was high, we didn't look after the ball and it was almost a result of people trying too hard.

"There were a lot of errors and we've got to work out how we can be more consistent in those areas because at 31-7 up we should never be in that position."

Saints handed a debut to Fin Smith, who had arrived earlier in the month after Worcester's demise left the fly-half out of contract.

And Dowson said: "It was a great debut for him.

"He hadn't played for a long time and it was his first couple of weeks in the environment so we're really happy with how he went.

"When you see Jimmy (Grayson) coming on for him, that shows we've got real strength in depth and those two guys have started that competition where they will push each other.

"I think he had some cramp and we made sure we looked after him - we were conscious of that before the game.

"We had Jimmy sitting there and he's such a quality player to bring off the bench."