Selection 'enjoyable and difficult' as Dowson delivers Saints injury latest before Harlequins clash

The 23-year-old lock has not played since suffering a leg injury while playing for England A against an All Blacks XV at The Rec on November 8.

But at Tuesday's media session ahead of Saturday's home Gallagher PREM clash with Harlequins, Saints boss Dowson delivered a positive update on Lockett.

Dowson said: "He's good, he's trained today so he's due to be back in the next couple of weeks."

Saints are still without influential hooker Curtis Langdon, who has yet to play this season after undergoing surgery during the summer.

"He's just going through that with his neck and we're being very, very conservative so there's no timeline on that that we can give you," Dowson said.

Tom Litchfield (hamstring) and Tom West (knee) have also been on the injured list of late, but Saints are certainly not short of selection options this week as they have the chance to bring back a laundry list of stars who were rested at Bath last Saturday.

However, the team selection for the clash with Quins has been made more difficult by the fact the black, green and gold claimed an incredible 41-21 win at The Rec last Saturday, producing a sensational six-try performance against the current PREM champions.

"There's lot of players who've had a week off who see that performance from players in Saints shirts and want to play this weekend so that drives our level in training and that's exactly what we're looking for as a coaching group," Dowson said.

"It's both enjoyable and difficult and there are some tough conversations you have to have with players who played really well last weekend who won't be involved this weekend, which is hard.

"But I think the players understand the situation. We've got a great group of lads and they understand not every player is going to play every minute, that they've still got a role to fulfill and that they'll be called in at any point because that's the way the game goes.

"It's frustrating, I'd imagine, for a lot of players who deserve another opportunity, and they will get that in time."

Saints won the Gallagher PREM in 2024, but when asked whether he feels his current squad is even stronger than the one that delivered silverware, Dowson said: "I wouldn't necessarily compare years - it's really hard to go through that.

"I would say the experiences we had last year, particularly towards the back end of it, away to Exeter, away to Gloucester, have been really beneficial to us in terms of giving experience to young fellas who now have so much more confidence on the back of that, and that's what the club's built on really."