Northampton Saints v Gloucester: Big match preview

Venue: DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Date and kick-off time: Saturday, October 31, 2026, 5.30pm

Weather forecast: 9c, partly cloudy

Live television coverage: TNT Sports

Referee: Sara Cox

Assistant referees: Matthew Carley and John Meredith

No.4: Harry Walbaum

TMO: Peter Allan

Saints: 15 James Pater; 14 Ollie Sleightholme, 13 Tommy Freeman, 12 Fraser Dingwall (c), 11 George Hendy; 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Alex Mitchell; 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Cleopas Kundiona; 4 Alex Coles, 5 Ed Prowse; 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Callum Chick.

Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Henry Pollock, 22 Jonny Weimann, 23 Rory Hutchinson.

Not available for Saints selection: Ben Alexander, Trevor Davison, Malik Faissal, Luke Green, Tom Litchfield, Archie McParland, Aidan Pugh, Fin Smith, Edoardo Todaro, Lefty Zigiriadis.

Gloucester: 15 George Barton; 14 Will Joseph, 13 Max Llewelyn, 12 Seb Atkinson (c), 11 Will Knight; 10 Charlie Atkinson, 9 Caolan Englefield; 1 Val Rapava Ruskin, 2 Seb Blake, 3 Afo Fasogbon; 4 Jean Kleyn, 5 Arthur Clark; 6 Freddie Thomas, 7 Deian Gwynne, 8 Jack Clement.

Replacements: 16 Dewi Lake, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Will Trenholm, 20 Jac Morgan, 21 Lewis Ludlow, 22 Dan Robson, 23 Ben Redshaw.

Most recent meeting: Saturday, May 30, 2026: Saints 36 Gloucester 32 (Gallagher PREM)

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: "They (Gloucester) have been exceptional really. The signings they've made from a playing basis, the coaches they've brought in, obviously the influence of Chris Boyd is clear in terms of that, the energy they have - George Skivington's done a cracking job during pre-season to put them top of the table thus far. There have been periods of time over the past two or three seasons where their attack has been outstanding, there have been periods of time when their maul and their forward play has been outstanding - and that's all been put together now. That, coupled with the defensive rigour and energy they've got around that from (defence coach) Joel Tomkins, has been impressive. Jac Morgan has probably been player of the season thus far, he's been outstanding, and from what I gather from listening to interviews, he's been outstanding off and on the pitch. Dewi Lake, again, has had a huge impact there. Will Joseph is playing the best rugby of his career as well so there are guys in there who are feeling confident. (George) Barton at the back looks like he's got the bit between his teeth, Charlie Atkinson has just been called up into the England squad, (Caolan) Englefield looks like a mongrel at nine and getting stuck in, they've got some very good ball carriers in the back five of the scrum, (Jean) Kleyn has been a great signing. They've signed well and they've got that cohesion so there's a good energy around the group.”

Gloucester head coach George Skivington: "I think they (the Gloucester players) have to believe - if you don't believe after these (past) two weeks how good we could be then I don't know what you can do to get any more belief. We're still a long way from where we want to be and I don't say that as a cliche. There was a lot of inaccuracies in our game (in the win against Bath last) Friday, there's a lot of things we didn't get right. We had to play with 14, 13 men so you've got to change the tactics, but the boys, their fight, their willingness not to get frustrated with decisions going against you, moments going against you, was top notch, and I think as a group they showed their mettle."

Opposition danger man: It’s a case of take your pick as there are so many Cherry and Whites players in form right now. But the man who gets the nod here is Jac Morgan, who has just been so good since arriving at Gloucester during the summer. The Wales back row forward seems to be everywhere in every game and he will be a menace at the breakdown as well as with ball in hand when he is introduced from the bench.

Tom Vickers’ pre-match thoughts: This feels like one of those statement matches, with last season’s champions Saints bidding to strengthen their title defence and Gloucester seeking to show they can be a real contender to dethrone the kings of England. Gloucester head into this round of matches sitting top of the table, lapping up an abundance of praise for their performances. They have been strong in all departments and they will want to show just how far they’ve come by winning at the Gardens on Saturday evening. As for Saints, aside from the incredible attacking performance against Bath, they haven’t really had the swagger of champions as yet, coming unstuck at both Bristol and Leicester in disappointing fashion. From a black, green and gold perspective, you’d like to see them assert some authority and show exactly why they won the league last season. Yes, this is a slightly different team, but many of the men who delivered that title remain, and Saints need everyone to step up here to show they can do it all again. During their previous title defence, during the 2024/25 campaign, a flat home defeat to Gloucester at a similar stage of the season put a real spanner in the works, so Saints really need to stop history repeating itself on Saturday evening.