Ashton piles pressure on Saints ahead of Saracens showdown

Ashton, who left Northampton for Sarries in the summer of 2012, scored four tries to help his team thrash London Welsh 68-17 on Saturday.

That ensured Mark McCall’s men would finish fourth, setting up a game against the champions at the Gardens this weekend.

And Ashton feels that Saints will be favourites, having finished top of the regular-season table, just as Sarries did last season before losing to Jim Mallinder’s side in the final.

“They’re in the position we were last year: all the pressure’s on them,” Ashton said.

“We’ve come fourth and we’ve got to go to Northampton - we know the task we’ve got to do.

“We’ve had a good couple of games against them so we’re looking forward to it.

“The pressure’s not on us, it’s on Northampton.”