Northampton Saints v Wasps: Aviva Premiership preview
Friday 27 March 2015 21:32, UK
Northampton Saints welcome back international stars George North and Dylan Hartley for Friday’s Aviva Premiership clash with Wasps at Franklin’s Gardens.
The end of the Six Nations sees the Saints back at full strength, with North named on the wing after scoring a hat-trick against Italy last weekend and hooker Hartley skippering the side as they look to extend their lead at the top of the table.
The only other change to the side that drew at Gloucester earlier this month comes at scrum-half, where Lee Dickson is preferred to Kahn Fotuali’i.
Northampton suffered a 20-16 reverse when they faced Wasps at Adams Park in round two but they have lost just one of their 10 Premiership fixtures, while Wasps’ last victory at Franklin’s Gardens was back in 2005.
The visitors have opted to rest James Haskell after his Six Nations exploits so Matt Mullan continues as captain, with Italy international Lorenzo Cittadini and hooker Edd Shervington returning to the front row.
Andy Goode misses out with an ankle injury so Alex Lozowski starts at fly-half, with Glyn Hughes named on the bench.
Northampton Saints: 15 James Wilson, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Tom Stephenson, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson; 1 Alex Corbisiero, 2 Dylan Hartley (c), 3 Salesi Ma’afu, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Tom Wood, 7 Calum Clark, 8 Samu Manoa.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Sam Dickinson, 20 Jon Fisher, 21 Kahn Fotuali’I, 22 Dom Waldouck, 23 Ahsee Tuala.
Wasps: 15 Rob Miller, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Elliot Daly, 12 James Downey, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Alex Lozowski, 9 Joe Simpson; 1 Matt Mullan (c), 2 Edd Shervington, 3 Lorenzo Cittadini, 4 James Cannon, 5 Kearnan Myall, 6 Ashley Johnson, 7 Thomas Young, 8 Nathan Hughes.
Replacements: 16 Simon McIntyre, 17 Phil Swainston, 18 James Gaskell, 19 Ed Jackson, 20 Guy Thompson, 21 Piri Weepu, 22 Glyn Hughes, 23 Will Helu.
