Dowson // ‘Every element of our game needs to be on point’

Every element of Northampton Saints’ game needs to be ‘on point’ to secure victory over RC Toulon in Friday’s cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens clash.

That is the view of director of rugby Phil Dowson as the men in Black, Green and Gold go in search of a second successive Investec Champions Cup victory following the Round 1 win away at Glasgow Warriors.

Ahead of the match, Dowson sat down with the written press to share his thoughts…

Q: What is the mood like in the camp after the Glasgow win?
PD: We had a good first half performance last week. We’re just going to keep trying to push to maintain that momentum because we know that the challenge only gets tougher and bigger and we know we meed to be right on the mettle again.

Q: What did you make of Toulon’s opening round loss to Exeter Chiefs?
PD: Obviously losing their nine (replacement scrum-half Baptiste Serin was injured shortly after coming on in the second half) was costly. I thought Exeter were outstanding in terms of what they did and how they defended, how they applied pressure, how they stuck in the game. If you take that game out of it and look at Top 14 and how good Toulon have been, they're fourth in the table currently with an all-star cast. They’re an absolute handful and you know they’ll be hurting having lost at home to a Chiefs side that were unbelievable.

Q: What are Toulon’s strengths?
PD: Clearly they’ve got individuals around the park who can make things happen. That individual flair and brilliance coupled with the identity of Toulon of being able to move around. They can attack you with offloads and the ability to go fast from quick lineouts, from quick taps from a bright nine, crossfield kicks from Biggs as and when he plays.

Q: What do you make of former Saintsmen Dave Ribbans returning to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens in the starting line-up for Toulon and Dan Biggar being a part of the broadcast team?
PD: Clearly there’s a lot of history there in terms of Toulon signing those two lads and so it’s great that they’re coming back. You wish them luck in Toulon but hopefully when they come back here it’s not too good an experience. They seem to have a scouting eye on our group! I suppose that’s flattering in some ways.

Q: What have you made of Courtney Lawes’ form in recent weeks?
PD: You run out of superlatives in terms of describing Courts over the years in terms of what he brings. To hear Fin Smith talk about it after the game on TV around the confidence he brings to the group when he’s there and it’s not from a position of vocal leadership, he doesn’t need to do that. He stays nice and calm, he’s been and seen it all before and capable of being in the right place in the right time. So often when there’s a last-ditch tackle that needs to be made, unbelievably, it’s Courtney Lawes stretching out to do it.

Q: How pleased are you to have Juarno Augustus back in the mix?
PD: It’s brilliant but it’s the same as anyone. Manny (Emmanuel Iyogun) has come back in and trained this week, Burger Odendaal has trained this week, Hutch (Rory Hutchinson) isn’t a million miles away, Colesy’s (Alex Coles) knee isn’t as bad as first thought considering how it looked. There’s loads of positivity around those guys coming in, clearly, there’s people going the other way as well. We tried to put our arm around James Ramm, we tried to put our arm around Alex Waller, with the injuries they’ve suffered and try and get them back to fighting fitness as soon as possible.

Q: What is the situation with Alex Waller?
PD: He has a problem with his neck. They’re still speaking to the surgeon and checking scans and making sure there’s nothing inherently wrong with it and he can sort of maintain, get through the pain and see how quickly he can get back playing.

Q: On the topic of loosehead props, how impressive were you with Tarek Haffar on his debut against Glasgow?
PD: He made his debut for 60 minutes as well which considering he hasn’t played tonnes of rugby since he came here, we gave him a run out at Leicester Lions the week before just to get him back into some collisions and scrummaging. I think you can see the quality that he has from a physical point of view. Clearly he’s not spent tonnes of time within our system both in defence and attack, but he is only going to get better and we’re excited about the way he applies himself and the way he can play the game.