Saints boss Dowson delivers injury update and discusses fly-half decision ahead of Harlequins clash

Munga has been battling an injury picked up in training, while Hendy is still recovering from the shoulder problem he sustained in the most recent league match, at home to Bath.

Saints would dearly love to have both available this week as they have been hit by a huge number of absences due to England's Guinness Six Nations training in camp in Girona.

Alex Coles, who suffered a wrist problem in the win against Munster on Saturday, Alex Mitchell, Fin Smith, Ollie Sleightholme, Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman are all unavailable against Quins due to the Red Rose's trip to Spain.

Lock Munga and versatile back Hendy would add vital quality and experience to Saints if they were to be available.

But at Monday's pre-match media session, Dowson said: "Chunya ran today and George Hendy joined in with some skills training today so no contact for either of those guys yet."

Fiji lock Temo Manyanavanua continues to go through concussion protocols.

Dowson said: "Temo should be good. He's still actually going through it so he won't be declared fit until after Wednesday's training."

George Furbank, Sam Graham and Robbie Smith remain on the long-term injured list, while Dowson said a couple of weeks ago that prop Manny Iyogun was 'two to four weeks away' from a return from an ankle problem.

Burger Odendaal continues his recovery from a long-term knee injury, with Dowson saying last week: "Burger's been flying!

"I've been so impressed with Burger in terms of his application and dedication to his recovery.

"It was fantastic that he could join us out in Pretoria and catch up with his family out there. It was a real good fillip for him and a change of scenery.

"He's ahead of schedule but we don't want to rush that because the stats around returning from those sorts of injuries and returning early aren't great in terms of recurrence.

"He's ahead of schedule but we're going to make sure we're conservative and do the right thing for Burger.

"But's he bang into it and he's training, joining in with sessions.

"He's not doing all the contact at the moment but he's doing enough to look really good."

Saints have a choice to make between Tom James and Archie McParland as to who replaces Mitchell at scrum-half, while the decision at 10 is whether to start Rory Hutchinson there or bring in George Makepeace-Cubitt and play Hutchinson in his regular centre role.

"As George Makepeace-Cubitt gets more experience, he'll fill that (fly-half) role more and more because he's an outstanding character and an outstanding player," Dowson said.

"Hutch, we know can do that role for us, and he's got the skillset that makes him more than capable, but as George gets more experience, we can hopefully keep Hutch in his centre berth and keep adding to George's game."