England hooker Steve Thompson and Scotland prop Tom Smith will start amongst the replacements to make way for Dan Richmond and Simon Emms respectively. Indeed, the Northampton pack is unchanged from the one that started against Gloucester in their last game (Saturday 12th March).

In the back division, Academy player Paul Diggin has come in for the injured Wylie Human, while Andy Vilk replaces Neil Starling, who suffered a knee injury during the Rugby World Cup Sevens in Hong Kong last weekend.

England winger Ben Cohen also doesn't feature after failing to recover from a smashed cheekbone, but flanker Darren Fox has returned to the squad following five weeks out of action with broken ribs.

Their full team is as follows:

15. Bruce Reihana
14. John Rudd
13. Andy Vilk
12. Marc Stcherbina
11. Paul Diggin
10. Shane Drahm
9. Johnny Howard
1. Simon Emms
2. Dan Richmond
3. Robbie Morris
4. Matt Lord
5. Damien Browne
6. Andrew Blowers
7. Corne Krige (Capt.)
8. Mark Soden

Replacements:
16. Steve Thompson
17. Tom Smith
18. Alex Codling
19. Darren Fox
20. Ben Jones
21. Paul Grayson
22. Mark Tucker