Preview: Northampton v Saracens

Saracens have made just one change to their starting XV for Sunday's semi-final against Northampton Saints at Franklin's Gardens.

Saracens have made one change to their line-up for Sunday's Guinness Premiership semi-final clash with Northampton at Franklin's Gardens.

Alex Goode returns to full-back after missing last week's victory at Leicester and the only other change sees Justin Marshall return to the bench.

“Northampton are an excellent rugby side and they have some very talented players within their squad,” said Director of Rugby Brendan Venter.

“We have been in good form in recent weeks, and everybody is looking forward to a fantastic match.”

There promises to be a great deal of edge for this meeting, particularly after Saints claimed in a newspaper article that their rivals had tried to 'tap up' South African prop Brian Mujati. The alleged event, reported in the Guardian, is just another piece of coal on the fire between these two, who know that a Twickenham finale awaits the winner.

However, Jim Mallinder has on Friday played down off-field factors by saying that Saints are solely motivated by the prospect of playing in a Guinness Premiership semi-final.

Saints secured a home play-off by beating London Irish in Round 22, which was their 16th win of the domestic season that saw them finish second in the domestic standings.

And with a place in a Grand Final just 80 minutes of rugby away, Mallinder revealed that the players have been extremely focused on this week's task against the men from Watford.

“A Guinness Premiership semi-final is a massive game, no matter who you are playing. We have worked hard to get a home semi-final and we know that we have our destiny in our own hands. The players are all feeling fresh, which says a lot about the hard work put into the conditioning and their attitude in general, and competition for a place in the team has been fierce all week,” he said before explaining that these games are what players live for.

“Games like this are why we are involved in rugby. We are one game away from Twickenham and we know that if we score more points than Saracens on Sunday afternoon then we will get there.”

A few months ago and that feat of beating Saracens at the tough venue that is the Gardens would have been viewed as very doable for Saints. But Venter's side have found another gear in the run-in as results at Leicester and Northampton over recent weeks have testified.

So will it be three massive away scalps for the team that have been in the news a great deal of late? It is extremely difficult to pick a winner as the game partly rests on which outfit copes better with off-the-field events that have accompanied this semi-final. Just look back at the Soane Tonga'uhia U-turn and Mallinder's accusations that their rivals bring merchandise to set up stalls at away grounds, 'smuggle' in their own cheerleaders to grounds when on the road and of course that Mujati phone call. Enough spice for you?

Head-to-head: The battle at full-back between Ben Foden and Alex Goode jumps out from the sheets but it's at hooker where there will be more on the line. It is England versus South Africa on Sunday as Dylan Hartley meets Schalk Brits in a contest that should be a classic.

Form: Franklin's Gardens becomes the 7th different venue to host a Premiership semi-final match. Northampton Saints reach a Guinness Premiership semi-final for the first time since 2003/04 and will be hoping to make it to a first ever Premiership final. Saints' most recent home game was also against Saracens two weeks ago, where the visitors triumphed 28-27. Northampton have won three of their last four semi-finals in all competitions and have not lost a home semi-final since Saracens visited Franklin's Gardens in the last four of the Tetley's Bitter Cup in March 1998. Saracens make the playoffs for the first time since 2006/07, having finished the regular season with three straight away victories – they have not won four in a row on the road in the Premiership since 1997/98. Saracens have lost their last six semi-final encounters in all competitions since beating Worcester 28-10 at Vicarage Road in the Wildcard semi-final on 6 May 2005. The two teams have already met on four previous occasions this season with Saracens winning both encounters in the Guinness Premiership and Northampton both games in the LV= Cup. The Saints and Saracens have clashed in three previous semi-finals, all at Franklin's Gardens, Saracens winning 25-10 in the cup in March 1998, but Northampton taking the European Challenge Cup 16-13 in May 2009 and the LV= Cup semi-final in March 31-20.

Prediction: Stinging from the last time Saracens were in town, I am backing Saints by six!

The teams:

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Neil Best, 6 Phil Dowson, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Darren Morris, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Joe Ansbro.

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Michael Tagicakibau, 13 Adam Powell, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Chris Wyles, 10 Glen Jackson, 9 Neil de Kock, 8 Ernst Joubert (c), 7 Andy Saull, 6 Jacques Burger, 5 Mouritz Botha, 4 Hugh Vyvyan, 3 Petrus du Plessis, 2 Schalk Brits, 1 Matias Aguero.
Replacements: 16 Fabio Ongaro, 17 Rhys Gill, 18 Richard Skuse, 19 Tom Ryder, 20 Justin Melck, 21 Justin Marshall, 22 Derick Hougaard, 23 Kameli Ratuvou.

Date: Sunday, May 16
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Kick-off: 13.30 BST
Referee: Wayne Barnes