Saints to start pre-season campaign with trip to Bedford Blues
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Saints will travel to face the Championship side on Saturday, August 26.
General sale tickets for the clash, which kicks off at 1.30pm in advance of England’s World Cup warm-up match against Fiji, will go on sale via Bedford Blues at the start of August.
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Hide AdPhil Dowson’s side will take to the field for the first time following a long pre-season training schedule which began in mid-June, and the encounter with the Blues will be followed by a home game against the Barbarians on Saturday, September 2 (kick-off 2pm).


Those matches will provide a warm-up ahead of the start of the new-look Premiership Rugby Cup competition, which will begin for Saints with a televised trip to Ealing Trailfinders on Sunday, September 10.
The pre-season encounter against Bedford has become something of a tradition and it is a fixture with more than 130 years of history. The two sides first met in 1887.
They last locked horns in pre-season 12 months ago in Northampton, as Saints ran out 40-26 victors in a 10-try thriller at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.
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Hide AdThis will be the third game between the sides since their strategic partnership began back in June 2020, with the first a 40-21 win for Saints in Bedford.
The Mobbs Memorial Match will soon take on a new format, as announced earlier this year, with the fixture set to be contested annually during pre-season between Saints and Bedford.
However, this format will begin at the start of the 2024/25 season and does not include this year’s game.