Top spot won't matter if Saints don't go on to win title, insists boss Dowson

The black, green and gold were beaten 43-12 at Bath last Saturday but the final-day loss didn't matter overall as they still finished the regular season at the Premiership summit.

They will now face Saracens in the play-off semi-final at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens on Friday, May 31.

Both teams will be targeting a place in the Twickenham showpiece against either Bath or Sale Sharks on Saturday, June 8.

And Dowson says lifting the trophy is all that matters as he refuses to dwell on the fact his team finished top of the Premiership standings for the first time since 2015, and only the second time in the club's history.

“In rugby league they have a trophy for league leaders, but it's not relevant in what we're doing,” the Saints boss said.

“We've got to make sure all our energy is on recovering and taking the Bath defeat on the chin while preparing for the Sarries semi-final.

“They're not going to remember who finished top of the table, they're going to remember who picked up the trophy.”

Saints will return home next week having lost their past four away matches.

The defeat at Bath came after Dowson decided to rest 13 of the starting team that faced Gloucester a week earlier.

And the Saints boss insists his players must now move on quickly with a semi-final showdown beckoning.

“Obviously the Bath game takes the wind out of your sails a little bit but with the players we've left at home, with the body of work we've put behind us, I don't think we take one game in isolation, we take it as a whole season and some of the stuff we've done has been excellent,” he said.

“We've just got to make sure we don't get too carried away, we understand what's got us to this point and what's going to get us to the next point.

“The lads had a couple of days off and then came in Wednesday, Thursday, Friday.

“Now it's about preparing for that Friday night game.”