Bulls performance will push Saints forward, says Dowson

Phil Dowson is hoping his Northampton Saints side can use their 21-30 victory over Vodacom Bulls as a springboard for the remainder of the 2024/25 season, praising his side’s ‘guts’ in their first-ever win on South African soil.

The men in Black, Green and Gold claimed maximum points from the first two rounds of the Investec Champions Cup – first defeating Castres Olympique 38-8 in their opening match, before tries from George Hendy, Juarno Augustus and Tommy Freeman (2) sealed last weekend’s result. 

Freeman’s decisive try on 77 minutes meant Saints left Pretoria as the first away side to claim a win at Loftus Versfeld in the European competition, and Dowson is calling for Northampton to keep building momentum as the season rumbles on.

“We looked at Bulls’ home record and saw how strong it was at Loftus Versfeld,” said Dowson. “I think it's only Munster and Glasgow in the URC’s knockout games who have been able to get a win here.

“Coming to these tough environments, you find out a lot about yourself, and we answered a lot of questions in terms of how we approach those challenges. We met them head on and showed enough guts to produce a performance that will hopefully push us forward throughout the season.”

Saints did stretch ahead to a 22-7 lead after an hour in Pretoria, but a brace of tries for man-of-the-match Cameron Hanekom brought Bulls back within a point as the game entered its final ten minutes. 

Northampton stuck in the fight in the sweltering heat of South Africa, with a monster Fin Smith penalty rounding off the fly-half’s ten-point haul against Bulls before Freeman’s try closed the door on a home side comeback. 

“There were a couple of momentum swings,” Dowson said. “There was a period of time after half-time where we were down to 14 men, and we defended by the skin of the teeth and immediately won a penalty. Those swings of the game kept us in it.

“The Bulls obviously fought back with two tries that made it 22-21 at one point but we still managed to keep playing and sticking to what we were good at.”

The victory marked Saints’ second triumph over Bulls – with the men in Black, Green and Gold having defeated the South Africans 59-22 in last season’s quarter-finals – and Dowson was particularly pleased with the way his team fronted up to a star-studded Bulls side. 

Dowson added: “We spoke a lot about the challenge that sat around this game with the altitude, the temperature and clearly the opposition.

“It’s the heartland of South African rugby, a squad packed full of internationals and it was a really good challenge for us, which we were very excited about.

“We were delighted with our preparation week and it's been great for us to get away from the cold and the wet in the UK and have a week together. We haven't had a pre-season trip for a while so even just to be on the bus together to and from training has been very valuable.

“For the players to put a performance in like that was incredible.”