Northampton Saints v Saracens: Big match preview

Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Date and kick-off time: Saturday, May 17, 2025, 3.05pm

Weather forecast: 17c, partly cloudy

Live television coverage: TNT Sports

Referee: Luke Pearce

Assistant referees: George Selwood and Simon Harding

TMO: Dean Richards

No.4: James Clarke

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

Replacements: 16 Craig Wright, 17 Tarek Haffar, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Ed Prowse, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Jonny Weimann, 22 Jake Garside, 23 Tom Seabrook.

Saracens: 15. Alex Goode; 14. Tobias Elliott, 13. Elliot Daly, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Rotimi Segun; 10. Fergus Burke, 9. Ivan van Zyl; 1. Eroni Mawi, 2. Jamie George, 3. Marco Riccioni; 4. Maro Itoje (c), 5. Nick Isiekwe; 6. Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7. Ben Earl, 8. Tom Willis.

Replacements: 16. Theo Dan, 17. Phil Brantingham, 18. Alec Clarey, 19. Hugh Tizard, 20. Theo McFarland, 21. Andy Onyeama-Christie, 22. Charlie Bracken, 23 Angus Hall.

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

Most recent meeting: Sunday, December 22, 2024: Saracens 39 Saints 24 (Gallagher Premiership)

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: "It's the last game at home this season for the fans and the support they've given us this year. There's loads of things for motivation, there's tons around momentum and our game that we want to get right, how we want to sign off here but also going into Cardiff clearly. There's a ton of motivation but most of it sits around the connectivity of the group and the respect we want to show people like Juarno (Augustus), Burger (Odendaal), Temo (Mayanavanua), all those lads who are leaving and who have committed to the club over a long period of time.”

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall: "It'll be the first time their home fans will be able to see their team since that famous win against Leinster, which is an incredible achievement by them, so you know it's going to be a full house. It was a brilliant performance (from Saints in Dublin). They really rose to the occasion which is a sign of a really good team. They've obviously been in some big games over the last few years and have gained some valuable experience from them. Now that they have a group that have been together for some time going one step further every season, it's a sign of a team going in the right direction. If you look at our season as a whole, we've won nine Premiership games and lost seven which indicates an inconsistent team. The way I look at it, we've played at a very high level at times but the gap between our best performance and worst performance is too big. That's the challenge, to become a really consistent team and narrow that gap. We've had 16 games before this to learn from, we know what our best is and will need to recreate that on Saturday."

Opposition dangerman: Ben Earl always seems to perform well against Saints, and he will be eager to produce another statement showing here.

Tom Vickers’ prediction: Saints have gone as strong as they can for this one as they look to get in the groove ahead of next weekend’s final, but Saracens need the win far more as they are still targeting a top-four spot. With the bench they have named, you’d expect Saracens to finish the stronger and maybe snatch the victory they desperately want. Saints 26 Saracens 32.