Saints and Wasps set for thrilling Sunday showdown

Northampton director of rugby Chris Boyd has named his matchday 23 to take on Wasps on Sunday, with Saints’ league campaign finally set to resume after 163 days without rugby.

The men in Black, Green and Gold won 16-10 away at Worcester on their last Premiership outing before the unexpected hiatus, and boast a good recent record against this weekend’s opponents – winning two of the last three meetings in the league between the two.

Club co-captain Teimana Harrison leads out Northampton at Franklin’s Gardens in the number eight jersey and is joined at the back of the scrum by England’s Courtney Lawes and Lewis Ludlam, to create a back-row of international pedigree.

David Ribbans makes his first appearance since January having recovered from an ankle injury which kept him out for three months at the start of the year, and is joined in the engine room by Fijian international lock Api Ratuniyarawa.

Meanwhile, hooker Mikey Haywood will run out alongside props Paul Hill and Francois van Wyk to round off Saints’ pack.

Wales fly-half Dan Biggar starts in the fly-half jersey for the hosts with Alex Mitchell stepping up to start at scrum-half alongside him hoping to pull the strings for Northampton, while English duo Piers Francis and Fraser Dingwall are selected in the midfield.

And Boyd has opted for a versatile back three, with Harry Mallinder and Ahsee Tuala starting on the wings and George Furbank at full-back, to create a trio capable of filling in across the park.

Meanwhile, Lee Blackett has named his first side as full-time head coach, as Wasps are on the road on Sunday in Round 14 of the Premiership.

There are two potential debutants in the 23, as Ben Vellacott and Ryan Mills are named amongst the replacements.

Northampton and Wasps are currently fifth and sixth respectively on the table and victory would see them move above Bath into fourth spot.

Form: Northampton Saints’ four-game losing run in Premiership Rugby ended with their 16-10 victory at Worcester Warriors in Round 13. The Saints have lost their last three encounters at Franklin’s Gardens but have not lost four in succession in the Premiership at the famous old venue since 2006/07. Wasps’ only defeat in the last five rounds of league action was 9-18 at Leicester on 15 February – that was Wasps’ only away defeat in any competition since early December. Northampton have won two of their last three Premiership Rugby fixtures against Wasps, immediately following a run of six successive defeats stretching back to 2015. Wasps’ only victory at Franklin’s Gardens in the last five years was 36-17 in November 2018.

The teams:

Northampton: 15 George Furbank, 14 Harry Mallinder, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Ahsee Tuala, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Teimana Harrison (c), 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Api Ratuniyarawa, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Sam Matavesi, 17 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi, 18 Owen Franks, 19 Alex Coles, 20 JJ Tonks, 21 Henry Taylor, 22 Matt Proctor, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro

Wasps: 15 Matteo Minozzi, 14 Zach Kibirige, 13 Malakai Fekitoa, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Brad Shields, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Jack Willis, 5 Will Rowlands, 4 Joe Launchbury (c), 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Tommy Taylor, 1 Ben Harris
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Tom West, 18 Jeff Toomaga-Allen, 19 James Gaskell, 20 Sione Vailanu, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Lima Sopoaga, 23 Ryan Mills

Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Kick-off: 15:00 BST (14:00 GMT)
Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Hamish Smales
TMO: Graham Hughes