Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers: Big match preview

Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Date and kick-off time: Friday, March 21, 2025, 7.45pm

Weather forecast: 14c, cloudy

Live television coverage: TNT Sports

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

Assistant referees: Hamish Smales and Gareth Holsgrove

TMO: Stuart Terheege

Saints: 15. George Hendy; 14. James Ramm, 13. Fraser Dingwall (c), 12. Rory Hutchinson, 11. Tom Seabrook; 10. Fin Smith, 9. Tom James; 1. Manny Iyogun, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Trevor Davison; 4. Temo Mayanavanua, 5. Tom Lockett; 6. Josh Kemeny, 7. Tom Pearson, 8. Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: 16. Henry Walker, 17. Tarek Haffar, 18. Luke Green, 19. Alex Coles, 20. Chunya Munga, 21. Henry Pollock, 22. Jonny Weimann, 23. Burger Odendaal.

Leicester Tigers: 15. Freddie Steward; 14. Adam Radwan, 13. Solomone Kata, 12. Joseph Woodward, 11. Ollie Hassell-Collins; 10. Handré Pollard, 9. Jack van Poortvliet; 1. Nicky Smith, 2. Julián Montoya (c), 3. Joe Heyes; 4. Cameron Henderson, 5. Harry Wells; 6. Hanro Liebenberg, 7. Tommy Reffell, 8. Olly Cracknell.

Replacements: 16. Charlie Clare, 17. James Whitcombe, 18. Dan Cole, 19. Côme Joussain, 20. Emeka Ilione, 21. Ben Youngs, 22. Ben Volavola, 23. Izaia Perese.

Not available for Saints selection: Iakopo Mapu (suspended), Emeka Atuanya, George Furbank, Sam Graham, Archie McParland, Toby Thame, Ollie Sleightholme, Robbie Smith.

Most recent meeting: Saturday, February 1, 2025: Leicester Tigers 54 Saints 33 (Premiership Rugby Cup pool stages)

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: “We love the rivalry, it’s a really positive thing, a really healthy thing. It’s part of the heritage and history of the club, and theirs too, and we’re excited about that, obviously. We’ve been there twice this season and lost both times and so we’re looking forward to setting that right and putting a performance out there. I think they (Leicester) have been very good and I think the quality of their group is clear to see – in the PRC we saw that, in terms of the strength and depth that they have, in terms of their power game, in terms of having a World Cup winner (Handré Pollard) at 10. They have tried to develop their game and they’re obviously a lot more attacking than they were last year, and defensively there’s been a bit of a shift with David Kidwell coming in and Michael Cheika obviously bringing in a slightly different system. There have been some changes to how they’ve played the game over the last couple of years and they’re packed with talent, no doubt.”

Opposition dangerman: Tommy Reffell will start for the 100th time for Tigers, and he has disrupted Saints during plenty of those other appearances. If he has a big say at the breakdown, Leicester will fancy their chances.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: The big question here is how quickly can Saints click after another break from action? They have traditionally found it tough to hit the ground running, with their attacking game plan taking time to glue again. Tigers play a more direct, forward-based style so that could give them an edge. But this game is at the Gardens, making it really tough to call. It could go either way. Saints 25 Tigers 22.