Aviva Premiership preview: Harlequins v Northampton Saints

Nick Easter: Takes over the Harlequins captaincy for his team's game against Saints

Harlequins once again find themselves at Twickenham as they host Northampton in Big Game 7 on Saturday.

Tickets have almost sold out as Harlequins continue their use of England's stadium for their final game of the year.

Quins have made five changes to the team that beat Newcastle 15-6 at the Stoop in their last Premiership encounter.

Joe Marler was once again unavailable for selection this week having been unable to recover from an injury he sustained against Leinster in the European Rugby Champions Cup so Mark Lambert retains his starting place in the No 1 jersey.

He has been joined by two new faces in the front row with Will Collier coming in and Dave Ward starting at hooker while Nick Easter starts at No 8 and takes over the captain's duties.

Danny Care makes a start at scrum-half and Ugo Monye joins the side on the right wing.

Northampton's Jim Mallinder made five changes of his own following on from his team's win over rivals Leicester last week. 

Mike Haywood comes into the Saints' starting line-up to replace Dylan Hartley, who received a three-week ban for elbowing Matt Smith in tha game at Franklin's Gardens last week.

Sam Dickinson pairs up with Christian Day in the second row at the expense of Courtney Lawes in the only other change to the forwards.

Outside centre Geroge Pisi joins his brother Ken in the backs while Ben Foden makes a return to the team at full-back. Lee Dickson moves into the starting line-up at scrum-half as Kahn Fotuali'i occupies the bench.

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 George Lowe, 11 Ugo Monye, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Danny Care, 1 Mark Lambert, 2 Dave Ward, 3 Will Collier, 4 Charlie Matthews, 5 George Robson, 6 Joe Trayfoot, 7 Jack Clifford, 8 Nick Easter (c).

Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Sam Twomey, 20 James Chisholm, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Tom Casson, 23 Ross Chisholm.

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Alex Waller, 2 Mike Haywood, 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 4 Sam Dickinson, 5 Christian Day, 6 Calum Clark, 7 Tom Wood (c), 8 Samu Manoa.

Replacements: 16 Ross McMillan, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Ben Nutley, 20 Phil Dowson, 21 Kahn Fotuali'i, 22 James Wilson, 23 Tom Stephenson.