Northampton Saints v Bristol Bears: Big match preview

Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Date and kick-off time: Saturday, April 26, 2025, 5.30pm

Weather forecast: 14c, light rain

Live television coverage: TNT Sports

Referee: Adam Leal

Assistant referee: Andrew Jackson and Wayne Falla

TMO: Matthew Carley

No. 4: Mike Hudson

Saints: 15. James Ramm; 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Fraser Dingwall (c), 12. Rory Hutchinson, 11. Tom Litchfield; 10: Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Manny Iyogun, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Trevor Davison; 4. Temo Mayanavanua, 5. Alex Coles; 6. Josh Kemeny, 7. Henry Pollock, 8. Juarno Augustus.

Replacements: 16. Henry Walker, 17. Tom West, 18. Elliot Millar Mills, 19. Tom Lockett, 20. Angus Scott-Young, 21. Tom James, 22. Tom Seabrook, 23. Will Glister.

Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane; 14. Deago Bailey, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye; 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall; 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff; 4. Josh Caulfield, 5. Joe Owen; 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Santiago Grondona, 8. Fitz Harding (c).

Replacements: 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. George Kloska, 19. Viliame Mata, 20. Ben Grondona, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. James Williams, 23. Siva Naulago.

Not considered for Saints selection: Sam Graham, George Hendy, George Makepeace-Cubitt, Iakopo Mapu, Archie McParland, Burger Odendaal, Tom Pearson, Toby Thame, Charlie Savala, Ollie Sleightholme, Robbie Smith.

Most recent meeting: Friday, October 25, 2024: Bristol Bears 31 Northampton Saints 23 (Gallagher Premiership)

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: “I'm excited. It's a rare time this season we've won three on the bounce and we want to continue that momentum. We want to get more points to try to climb the league table and give ourselves a chance. Bristol will be disappointed with the result against Leicester (Tigers won 36-19 at Ashton Gate last Sunday) and they're totally different to so many other sides in the Premiership. Their pass-per-kick stats and their kick return stats are really unusual so they pose a lot of different questions. It's exciting for us to get our teeth into a different challenge. We went there (to Bristol in October) without our England players because they were preparing for the autumn internationals. We had a mix-and-match team with a lot missing but in large parts we played pretty well and took a lot from that experience. Bristol throughout the year have continued to play in the same vein and stuck to their guns. They've scored some ludicrously good tries and they're top of the stats in terms of line-breaks and offloads and up there with Bath in tries scored. There's been some evolution in how they do it, but their ethos is generally the same.”

Opposition dangerman: Bristol have plenty of threats, but Harry Thacker always seems to score against Saints so it has to be him.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: This is a really tough one to call. Obviously Bristol have huge motivation as they are desperate to keep hold of their play-off spot. Saints are eager to climb the league table. Both teams have a huge amount of quality so it could go either way. Saints have a poor recent record against Bristol, losing each of the past five matches between the sides, so they really need to put that right here. It should be lively. Saints 38 Bristol Bears 34.