Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson has played down talk of a growing rivalry between his side and Bath.
They are the current top two in the Prem Rugby table and played out a thrilling European Champions Cup quarter-final at The Rec on 10 April, when Bath came out on top 43-41 in a game featuring 11 tries.
The two teams will meet at Northampton on Saturday, with Saints holding a single-point lead in the table, both teams having won 11 out of 13 games so far.
"It's not something we talked about last year. No-one was saying 'oh, this huge Saints-Bath rivalry' when we were eighth and they were at the top of the table," Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton.
"I think it's based on the fact that it's two sides performing really well, I don't think it's something that's been going on for decades.
"This season, Bath have been exceptional, like they were last year, and we've been very good as well, so it makes for an interesting battle, but I think you can probably overstate the rivalry stakes.
"At this moment in time it's two good sides, that's not to say in three years time it'll be this huge rivalry still."
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Saturday's match will be the third meeting of the teams this season, with Saints coming from behind to win 41-21 at The Rec in December.
Both are likely to figure in the end of season play-offs, but despite that, Dowson does not believe if gives the game any added significance.
"It's a really important game because it's the next one, it's against Bath who've been playing really well and likely to be in the top four, does that have any impact on the game? I'm not sure it does," he said.
According to Dowson, the Champions Cup game showed that although Saints are a potent attacking force, there is room for improvement.
"We were frustrated by that game, we know we're better at those aspects and have had a renewed focus (on them).
"The improvements we made throughout the week (afterwards) and the way we thought about it and spoke about it, shows how coachable this group is, and how emotionally invested they are in what we're trying to do," he added.
"That was the most pleasing thing about last week [league win over Exeter] and we've got to continue in that vain, we can't just say 'that's the box ticked', we have to invest our energy in what gave us that opportunity."
Phil Dowson was speaking to BBC Radio Northampton sports editor Graham McKechnie