Preview: Northampton v Saracens

Stephen Myler will play his 100th game for Northampton on Saturday when they meet Saracens at Franklin's Gardens.

Stephen Myler will make his 100th appearance for Northampton on Saturday when they collide with Saracens at Franklin's Gardens.

The 25-year-old fly-half joined the Saints in 2006 from Salford City Reds, and after making his first-team debut in the 2006/07 Anglo-Welsh Cup he showed that he had settled straight into the XV-man code by steering the team to a Guinness Premiership win over Leicester at Welford Road.

Myler's five penalties from five attempts helped the Saints see off Bourgoin in the 2009 European Challenge Cup final, and there was another perfect kicking record in the 2010 LV= Cup final as the Saints beat Gloucester to lift the silverware.

In his 99 appearances to date Myler has scored 715 points, and his 187 points so far this season makes him the Saints' top scorer in all competitions. Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder paid tribute to Myler.

“Stephen is an important player in the Saints squad,” he said.

“He works hard and is always committed to improving as a player, both with his individual skills and in his overall game management. I'd like to congratulate him on reaching a hundred appearances, which is an important milestone for a player.”

Saints take on Saracens with both teams still in the hunt for a home play-off semi-final and Mallinder says that the visitors will be stiff opposition.

“We have played Saracens plenty of times this year and all three of our games in the Guinness Premiership and LV= Cup have been very difficult.,” he said.

“Saracens have been a tough and physical outfit all season, and in their past few games they have been one of the form teams with the ball in hand as well, scoring plenty of tries.

“So we will not only have to be disciplined around the breakdown but we will also have to defend well across the field and take our own chances of points when they come.”

Meanwhile, Saracens have made four changes for the trip to Franklin's Gardens.

Glen Jackson, Neil de Kock, Mouritz Botha and Jacques Burger all come into the line-up from the side that beat Harlequins at Wembley last week. The quartet have swapped places with Derick Hougaard, Justin Marshall, Tom Ryder and Justin Melck who are all named on the bench for Saturday.

In other changes on the bench, Rhys Gill returns from injury while Ethienne Reynecke takes the place of Fabio Ongaro who picked up a knock against Harlequins.

Saracens finish the season with Saturday's trip to second placed Northampton and then travel to league leaders Leicester Tigers on the final day of the campaign as the club looks to secure its own place in the end of season play-offs.

But it's a challenge that Director of Rugby Brendan Venter is relishing – starting with Saturday's game.

“Northampton are a great side and it will be a huge game – one which we are really looking forward to,” he said.

“Northampton and Leicester are the trendsetters and they're not one and two in the country for nothing. But we're really looking forward to the challenge and we want to get ourselves into a situation where we can win the Premiership. But we will continue to take it game to game, starting at Northampton on Saturday.”

Form: The Saints have a perfect played ten, won ten record at home in the Guinness Premiership this season and are bidding to go through a complete campaign in the top flight unbeaten at home for the first time. Saracens have won three of their last four games in the Guinness Premiership, more than doubling their try tally for the entire Premiership season in the process. Northampton Saints visit Bath on Tuesday. Sarries 30-19 victory at Sale on 9 April ended a five game winless run away from home in the Premiership. Saracens have already visited Franklin's Gardens twice this season in the LV= Cup, losing on both occasions, 3-19 and 20-31. Sarries however, won 19-16 when the two teams clashed at Wembley Stadium in round two of the Guinness Premiership.

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 Phil Dowson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Neil Best, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Joe Ansbro.

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

Date: Saturday, April 24
Kick-off: 15:00 BST
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Referee: Chris White