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Phil Dowson says he wishes Saints would have been able to keep hold of Api Ratuniyarawa.

The director of rugby has been full of praise for Ratuniyarawa week as the Fiji lock prepares to head back to cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens with London Irish.

Ratuniyarawa left Saints after his deal expired during the summer, opting to take up an offer of a longer contract option at Irish.

He was a hugely popular figure in Northampton, having arrived from French side Agen back in 2016.

Ratuniyarawa made 130 appearances in his six seasons at Saints, but he is now set to square up to them on Saturday afternoon (kick-off 2pm).

"He's a legend of a man," Saints boss Dowson said.

"I've got so much time for him and I wish we'd manage to keep Api.

"Not only is he a great player, but he's a great player to coach.

"He wants to be a coach himself so he was always sharing ideas.

"He's a very softly spoken, mild-mannered man, until you put him on a rugby pitch.

"The boys just absolutely love him and he's a cult hero in the squad.

"It's going to be bizarre seeing him in the wrong shirt this week but we wish him all the best because he's such a great bloke and he's still living locally as well."

Saints started life without Ratuniyarawa with a 29-22 defeat at Sale Sharks in the Gallagher Premiership opener last Sunday.

And now they will host a London Irish side who bagged a bonus-point success against Worcester Warriors in their league curtain raiser.

"They've got a good style of play, and they do want to play," Dowson said.

"They're one of the sides you quite enjoy watching because they play a good brand of rugby.

"That's not to undermine what they do up front because they've got a good pack, they've got two very experienced Australians in the second row, they've got good ball carriers and a young guy at seven who is an absolute handful over the ball.

"They've got lots of good players and a lot of speed which makes them very difficult.

"You look at the back three, they are all dangerous runners and if they get fast ball off that pack going forward, it's trouble."

Saints boss Dowson wishes he could have kept 'legend of a man' Api