THE FUSE

Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson says his side are excited about measuring their progress against Prem leaders Bath in their final game of 2025.

Saturday's match at The Rec will see a clash of the champions from the past two seasons - Saints having won the 2024 final against Bath, who went one better by beating Leicester Tigers 23-21 at Twickenham in June.

Northampton have won five of their seven league games this season but are three points behind Bath in third place, with Exeter Chiefs second on points difference.

"They've been fantastic and they have been very consistent as reigning champions wand wanting to make a big splash in Europe as well," said Dowson.

"The quality of their squad has been well documented and it's a very tough place to go, they've not lost at home for a long period of time. We're looking forward to taking that challenge on."

Following two wins in the European Champions Cup, Northampton returned to Prem action last weekend with a 47-21 victory over Sale Sharks, having led by 19 points at the interval.

And Dowson was pleased to see his players prevent a second-half revival by their opponents as happened when they drew 33-33 with Exeter in September after leading 33-7 and when they just edged home against Gloucester a week later.

"If you look at the first two games of the season when we had huge leads, we talked about momentum shifts and what that can do," added Dowson.

"I felt Sale were on the edge of pulling into a momentum shift that would have made the game tight, and potentially more tricky and ugly, so for us to pull away against a top quality side speaks volumes about the confidence we have in what we're doing and the guys coming off the bench."

Northampton will have James Ramm back for suspension for the trip to Bath, but will again look to wing George Hendy who has scored six tries in the last three games - and eight overall this season.

Dowson said: "He's doing things with the ball in hand that others can't do. He is a livewire, he has the ability to break tackles and get on the front foot.

"The enjoyable thing about George is he has so much more to learn and be better at - he is an absolute threat and is still getting better on his backfield coverage, some of his handling, there is loads more to come from George."

Asked to asses the team's year as a whole, Dowson added: "The first half was frustrating because we had quality without the consistency.

"I've been delighted with the turn this season, we've been flat out in all competitions - it's a great group of players, the signings have all integrated well and we're in an exciting spot.

"It's been another step on the journey, another evolution for this group and I'm excited to see where it can get us to."