Northampton Saints vs Bristol Bears
Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday 15th May
Venue: Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens
Watch on: TNT Sports 1
Round 16 of the Gallagher Prem will kick off on Friday night with a crucial game between Northampton Saints and Bristol Bears. The Saints still sit in 1st, with a 4-point gap to Bath in 2nd, but they were crushed by their rivals, Leicester, in an East Midlands derby last weekend. That result has left them still having to fight for a home semi-final and presumably a little rattled given the way they lost. Bristol, meanwhile, simply must win. They are 5 points behind Exeter in 4th and have a significantly worse points difference. After losing to Saracens last weekend, the Bears must bounce back before it's too late.
Neither team is at full strength but there are still some big battles to watch out for. In the front row, Ellis Genge will fancy his chances against Elliot Millar Mills but Kloska versus Iyogun will be fascinating on the other side of the scrum. Louis Rees-Zammit is back on the wing with Kalaveti Ravouvou which makes for an excellent match-up against Hendy and Freeman; that should be a very physical and aerial contest.
The bench is where things could unravel for Bristol. The Bears had a thin squad at the start of the season so injuries have had a big impact. Their starting team still looks strong but their bench has nothing to match the likes of JJ van der Mescht, Danilo Fischetti and Tom Pearson. The Saints are also holding back England stars Mitchell and Dingwall for the final part of the game. I think that's enough to give the Saints the edge at home on Friday night.
Team news
Northampton Saints
Starting XV
1.Emmanuel Iyogun 2.Robbie Smith 3.Elliot Millar Mills 4.Alex Coles 5.Ed Prowse
6.Josh Kemeny 7.Henry Pollock 8.Callum Chick 9.Archie McParland 10.Fin Smith
11.George Hendy 12.Rory Hutchinson 13.Tom Litchfield 14.Tommy Freeman 15.George Furbank(C)
Bench
16.Henry Walker 17.Danilo Fischetti 18.Luke Green 19.JJ van der Mescht
20.Tom Pearson 21.Sam Graham 22.Alex Mitchell 23.Fraser Dingwall
Bristol Bears
Starting XV
1.Ellis Genge 2.Harry Thacker 3.George Kloska 4.James Dun 5.Joe Batley
6.Joe Owen 7.Fitz Harding(C) 8.Santiago Grondona 9.Harry Randall 10.Tom Jordan
11.Kalaveti Ravouvou 12.James Williams 13.Bernhard Janse van Rensburg 14.Louis Rees-Zammit 15.Rich Lane
Bench
16.Tomas Gwilliam 17.Jake Woolmore 18.Max Lahiff 19.George Taylor
20.Luka Ivanishvili 21.Kieran Marmion 22.Matias Moroni 23.Noah Heward
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