Strong Saints XV ready for Sarries
Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:10
Northampton Saints will be taking Saracens very seriously for Sunday's LV= Cup semifinal at Franklin's Gardens.
The contest is a match-up between two of the Guinness Premiership's top four sides and is a repeat of last season's European Challenge Cup semifinal.
So director of rugby Jim Mallinder was not taking anything for granted this week when naming his side for Sunday's game.
"Saracens are a good team," Mallinder said. "They know how they want to play and they've had a lot of success with it. They've got some very good players and we'll have to be at our best this weekend to beat them.
"They are very strong in the contact area in attack and defence and put a lot of pressure on you. They've also got some pacy backs out wide who are good on the counter-attack and halfbacks who can put a good, structured kicking game together so we've got to be aware of those threats as well."
The Saints have used 33 players in the LV= Cup so far this season and Mallinder is delighted with how all of them have contributed in the team's run to the semifinals.
"The players who have come in have played well and stepped up to the mark," he added. "Ever since the early rounds of the LV= Cup, when we had a lot of players out playing representative rugby, the rest of the squad have all stepped up and played well. That's one of the positives for our season.
"We've seen the tournament as a way of winning some silverware and we want to win it. But first we have the semifinal and we have been fully focused on that this week."
Saints: 15 Bruce Reihana, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Neil Best, 6 Phil Dowson (captain), 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Andy Long, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Jon Vickers, 19 James
Cannon, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Joe Ansbro.
Date: Sunday, March 14
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Kick-off: 16:15 GMT
Referee: Romain Poite (France)