Dowson aiming for double success

The Saints are unbeaten in Europe to date in this campaign and face Perpignan at stadium: mk on Sunday May 1, with a place in the Heineken Cup final at stake but domestically the Midlands side are also still in the hunt for an English Premiership play-off place and Dowson has targeted two semi-finals appearances.

"We want to be in two semi-finals, we don't just want one," he said.

"That is why we play the game. We have played a lot of rugby to get to this point and its really important we do not throw it away.

"We nee to be mentally prepared, the boys are all mature enough and intelligent enough to realise that.

"At the same time, we still haven't won anything. Beating Ulster is great, fantastic, we wanted a home semi. But in the same breath, we want a trophy.

"We have to remain ambitious on both fronts.

"We can't sit back and pat each other on the back, we've got to push on and take some of the lessons we learnt from Europe into the Premiership."