Phil Dowson says he is ‘immensely grateful’ for the ‘massive influence’ Chris Boyd has had on his coaching career.

Boyd will be back at DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens on Saturday as part of the opposition coaching staff as he is now technical director at Gallagher PREM table-toppers Gloucester.

The popular Kiwi moved to England back in 2018 as he took over as director of rugby at Saints, where Dowson was already on the coaching staff.

Boyd spent four years in Northampton before heading home to New Zealand in 2022.

But he returned to the PREM in March this year, taking up the role with Gloucester, helping the Cherry and Whites to turn their fortunes around.

And ahead of this weekend’s meeting between Saints and George Skivington’s side, Dowson took some time to sum up the impact Boyd has had on his own coaching career.

"He's had a massive influence,” Dowson said.

“I had one year with Jim (Mallinder), which was obviously a tough year because Jim left at the back of that year (December 2017), we struggled through to the end of the season and then Boydy trusted in me to do the forwards job.

“I'm immensely grateful for the time and effort he put in and the way he looked after me and taught me about coaching and about professional sport.

“As a player, it's totally different and so that wealth of experience and that calm, measured approach to it was a huge factor in my development.”

Boyd has often been to Saints games since leaving the club.

And Dowson said: “I chat to him now and again, occasional messages.

“Obviously it's a bit different now he's at Gloucester because I don't speak to him quite as much, but we still have a chat and he came to the Bath game here (on October 10) and we had a couple of beers after.

“I definitely would always value his opinion, get his advice and catch up with him because he's a good man.”

When asked what he thinks Boyd has added to Gloucester, Dowson said: “He's probably just stripped it back and provided some clarity, which was invariably what he did here, giving George (Skivington) an opportunity to talk to somebody and have a sounding board around some of his ideas, making sure he strips out any of the unnecessary.

“That's what you see from Boydy: you see no nonsense, and he gets the most out of it.”