Northampton Saints vs Leicester Tigers

Kickoff: 7:45pm, Friday 12th June

Venue: Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens

Watch on: TNT Sports 1

Friday night will be a packed evening of sport with Canada playing Bosnia and Herzegovina at the World Cup and the first game of the women's T20 World Cup which will be contested by England and Sri Lanka. However, all eyes in rugby will be on the East Midlands where two giants of English rugby will go head-to-head for a place in the final of the Gallagher Prem. Northampton topped the table at the end of the regular season but Leicester have consistently improved over the course of the season and handed Northampton a 41-17 thumping at Mattioli Woods Welford Road in their previous encounter. This time the venue will be Cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens where the Saints will feel much more comfortable.

The Saints are without Alex Mitchell for the rest of the season, and so will have to rely on young Archie McParland, but are otherwise fairly healthy. The return of Curtis Langdon at hooker has been welcome and now gives the Saints a front row capable of competing with Leicester at the scrum. In the second row, Northampton's depth is on display with Lockett and van der Mescht probably taking up a gigantic chunk of the bench before they come on in the second half. In a slightly surprising move, Henry Pollock has been upgraded from impact player to starter with workhorse Callum Chick on the bench instead. Perhaps Dowson is opting for experience in the final 20 minutes of what will be a tight encounter. The backs are basically as you would expect with Dingwall on the bench due to the fine form of Hutchinson and Litchfield in midfield.

Leicester have also had some players return to fitness; after both missing the last 2 games, Freddie Steward and Billy Searle return to the starting line-up in time for this crucial game. This should allow Leicester to play with their usual balance once again. Unlike Phil Dowson, Geoff Parling has decided not to hold back any starters and has instead gone with his first-choice XV from the first minute. This means that Chessum and Martin will line up together in the second row the front row of Smith, Blamire and Heyes stays together. The eyebrow-raising part of this squad is on the bench where Leicester have a 5-3 split which includes both Perese and Kata. Having both of those physical centres on the bench perhaps gives us a clue as to how Parling might be looking to approach the final 20 minutes.

Whatever happens on Friday night, it looks set to be an incredible game. These are two impressive teams, which can win in a number of different ways, but this will likely be a clash of styles. Leicester will want to turn this into a set-piece dominated contest in which might is king. Northampton will look to use their attacking flair across their backs to expose the Tigers defence out wide. This is a very difficult game to call, and the statistics back Northampton, but playoff rugby generally suits teams built like Leicester so I think we could see an upset in this momentous edition of the East Midlands derby

Team news

Northampton Saints

Starting XV

1.Emmanuel Iyogun 2.Curtis Langdon 3.Elliot Millar Mills 4.Alex Coles 5.Ed Prowse

6.Josh Kemeny 7.Tom Pearson 8.Henry Pollock 9.Archie McParland 10.Fin Smith

11.George Hendy 12.Rory Hutchinson 13.Tom Litchfield 14.Tommy Freeman 15.George Furbank(C)

Bench

16.Craig Wright 17.Danilo Fischetti 18.Luke Green 19.JJ van der Mescht

20.Tom Lockett 21.Callum Chick 22.Jonny Weimann 23.Fraser Dingwall

Leicester Tigers

Starting XV

1.Nicky Smith 2.Jamie Blamire 3.Joe Heyes 4.George Martin 5.Ollie Chessum(C)

6.Hanro Liebenberg 7.Tommy Reffell 8.Joaquin Moro 9.Jack van Poortvliet 10.Billy Searle

11.Ollie Hassell-Collins 12.Orlando Bailey 13.Will Wand 14.Adam Radwan 15.Freddie Steward

Bench

16.Charlie Clare 17.Archie van der Flier 18.Will Hurd 19.Cameron Henderson

20.Olly Cracknell 21.Tom Whiteley 22.Solomone Kata 23.Izaia Perese

Bath vs Exeter Chiefs

Kickoff: 3pm, Saturday 13th June

Venue: The Recreation Ground

Watch on: TNT Sports 1

The second semi-final of the 2025/26 Gallagher Prem season will be played by Bath and Exeter. The home team are the huge favourites for this game but, the last time these teams met, Exeter came out on top by a very wide margin. Rob Baxter knows exactly how to get through semi-finals and will be very confident about his team's chances in this one.

The 35-12 defeat in May will loom large in the minds of the Bath players. It was a strong team which, unlike this week's group, had Finn Russell in the 10 shirt. Other than Finn Russell, Bath's most important players tend to be in good health. Obano, Dunn and Thomas du Toit make up an incredible front row with Bayliss, Underhill and Barbeary adding some heft in the back row. Bath's bench is quite young with Sela and Tuipulotu both waiting to come on in the second half. Despite a drop in form, Ollie Lawrence has been given the starting job at outside centre next to Max Ojomoh. Tom de Glanville lines up at fullback once again the absence of Russell whilst Carreras starts at fly-half once again.

Rob Baxter has opted for a very similar group to the one that got them over the line against Saracens. Jenkins and Zambonin will give Exeter a big advantage in the second row whilst Greg Fisilau returns at no.8 in time to take on Alfie Barbeary in a battle of English outsiders for their national team. Varney and Skinner have both had the season of their career and will need to continue that run of form under immense pressure on Saturday afternoon. On the wings, Ridl going up against Cokanasiga and Brown-Bampoe taking on Arundell will be epic battles to watch.

This will be a closely fought game, and Exeter could win it, but I think Bath are still the likely winners. I say that with no confidence whatsoever.

Team news

Bath

Starting XV

1.Beno Obano 2.Tom Dunn 3.Thomas du Toit 4.Quinn Roux 5.Charlie Ewels

6.Josh Bayliss 7.Sam Underhill 8.Alfie Barbeary 9.Ben Spencer(C) 10.Santi Carreras

11.Henry Arundell 12.Max ojomoh 13.Ollie Lawrence 14.Joe Cokanasiga 15.Tom de Glanville

Bench

16.Kepueli Tuipulotu 17.Francois van Wyk 18.Vilikesa Sela 19.Ross Molony

20.Ted Hill 21.Bernard van der Linde 22.Cameron Redpath 23.Miles Reid

Exeter Chiefs

Starting XV
1.Scott Sio 2.Max Norey 3.Josh Iosefa-Scott 4.Dafydd Jenkins(C) 5.Andrea Zambonin

6.Tom Hooper 7.Christ Tshiunza 8.Greg Fisilau 9.Stephen Varney 10.Harvey Skinner

11.Campbell Ridl 12.Len Ikitau 13.Henry Slade 14.Paul Brown-Bampoe 15.Olly Woodburn

Bench

16.Joseph Dweba 17.Ethan Burger 18.Bachuki Tchumbadze 19.Rusi Tuima

20.Ross Vintcent 21.Tom Cairns 22.Zack Wimbush 23.Ben Hammersley