Saracens v Northampton Saints: Big match preview

Date and kick-off time: Sunday, December 22, 2024, 3pm

Venue: StoneX Stadium, London

Weather forecast: 6c, gusty winds and light rain showers

Live television coverage: TNT Sports

Referee: Adam Leal

Assistant referees: Sara Cox and Jonathan Healy

No.4: Gareth Holsgrove

TMO: Dan Jones

Saracens: 15 Elliot Daly, 14 Tobias Elliott, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Nick Tompkins, 11 Liam Williams; 10 Fergus Burke, 9 Ivan van Zyl; 1 Rhys Carre, 2 Theo Dan, 3 Fraser Balmain; 4 Maro Itoje (c), 5 Theo McFarland; 6 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Ben Earl, 8 Tom Willis.

Replacements: 16 Jamie George, 17 Phil Brantingham, 18 Alec Clarey, 19 Harry Wilson, 20 Toby Knight, 21 Gareth Simpson, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Brandon Jackson.

Saints: 15 George Hendy; 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Tom Litchfield, 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 James Ramm; 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison; 4 Tom Lockett, 5 Chunya Munga; 6 Alex Coles (c), 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: 16 Nathan Langdon, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Temo Mayanavanua, 20 Henry Pollock, 21 Archie McParland, 22 Fraser Dingwall, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.

Not considered for Saints selection: Emeka Atuanya, George Furbank, Sam Graham, Callum Hunter-Hill, Burger Odendaal, Toby Thame, Robbie Smith.

Most recent meeting: Friday, May 31: Saints 22 Saracens 20

Saracens hooker Jamie George: “We’ve got a couple of big (European) games in January to look forward to and are back into the Prem now with Northampton, Bath, and Bristol. They’re definitely top-four contenders, so it’s good to flick back into that off the back of the momentum we’ve gained over the past two weeks.”

Saints head coach Sam Vesty: "I think Saracens have been very good. They are a very proud, quality rugby team with a big history. They're playing well. You can't let games slip and we've been guilty of not performing for long enough in (Premiership) games. You don't get many chances now so you've got to go, and we're in that place now. We're focusing on our performance because that will give us the best chance of winning. These next three Prem games are a real chance for us to push up the league.”

Opposition dangerman: Tom Willis is having a huge season and he so often gets Saracens on the front foot and over the try line.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: This is a really difficult one to call. Saints finally have some momentum thanks to that special win in South Africa, but Saracens claimed two impressive triumphs in Europe also. There is a mouthwatering back-row battle in prospect this weekend and if Saints can get parity up front, they can win this. But it could just be that home advantage tells here. Saracens 29 Saints 25.