Bristol v Saints: Teams

Mallinder: Not getting carried away

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Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder insists that qualification for the knock-out stages of the European Challenge Cup is far from the squad's minds as they head to Bristol this weekend.

Saints collected a bonus point win against Bristol in the first leg of their European back-to-back contests at Franklin's Gardens last Saturday.

But with three rounds of the pool stages still to go Mallinder says that nothing has been taken for granted by the Northampton coaches and players.

"We were pleased with how we played last weekend but what is more important for us is that we perform well at Bristol," he said.

"We cannot forget that Bristol beat us at the Memorial Stadium only a few weeks ago. It is a difficult place to play and Bristol are very tough competitors.

"We want another win to maintain our momentum but know that we will have to be at our very best to achieve it against a team that will be strong and fired up."

For Bristol only Tom Arscott, Luke Eves, Mark Irish, Dave Attwood and Matt Salter retain their starting places as Richard Hill's men look to bounce back and restore some pride.

Assistant coach John Brain admitted that the review of last week hadn't been pleasant but that the squad was looking forward not backward.

"There's been a lot of work put in this week, particularly on our defence because we leaked a lot of points and were very disappointed to be defeated so heavily," Brain said.

Bristol: 15 Luke Arscott, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Neil Brew, 12 Luke Eves, 11 David Lemi, 10 Ed Barnes, 9 Shaun Perry, 8 Dan Ward-Smith, 7 Joe El Abd (captain), 6 Matt Salter, 5 Robert Sidoli, 4 Dave Attwood, 3, Darren Crompton, 2David Blaney, 1 Mark Irish.
Replacements: 16 Scott Linklater, 17 Alex Clarke, 18 Nathan Budgett, 19 Alfie To'oala, 20 Graeme Beveridge, 21 Adrian Jarvis, 22 Lee Robinson.

Northampton: 15 Chris Ashton, 14 Paul Diggin, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 Chris Mayor, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ben Foden, 8 Mark Hopley, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Mark Easter, 5 Alex Rae, 4 Christian Day, 3 Barry Stewart, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Tom Smith, 18 Matt Lord, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Carlos Spencer, 22 Neil Starling.