Saturday's Aviva Premiership team news

All the team news for Saturday's Aviva Premiership fixtures, including London Irish v Northampton Saints.

London Irish v Northampton Saints (2.30pm)

London Irish will look to break their Aviva Premiership points duck on Saturday as they welcome Northampton Saints to the Madjeski Stadium.

However, their opponents will be looking to rediscover their try-scoring form, having claimed just one touchdown across their last four games in all competitions.

"We are working on scoring tries, and we need to improve in that area," said Northampton rugby director Jim Mallinder.

"We need the foundations in place, and we are working on that, especially with the youngsters in the front-row. We need to improve, and I think we will do that as we go through the season."

While Irish posted successive recent home wins in the European Challenge Cup, they have lost six games on the bounce against Northampton in all competitions, which suggests another tough afternoon could lie ahead.

Saints make seven changes from the team that ran out against Racing 92 last weekend with the most notable edition being the return of former captain Dylan Hartley in the front-row.

Irish will be bolstered by the return of lock Matt Symons to captain the side.

London Irish: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Ciaran Hearn, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 10 Chris Noakes, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 1 Tom Court, 2 David Paice, 3 Ben Franks, 4 Matt Symons (capt), 5 Nic Rouse, 6 Luke Narraway, 7 Blair Cowan, 8 Ofisa Treviranus

Replacements:  16 Jimmy Stevens, 17 Tom Smallbone, 18 Halani Aulika, 19. Jebb Sinclair, 20 Joe Trayfoot, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Fergus Mulchrone

Northampton: 15 Ben Fode, 14 Ken Pisi, 13 George Pisi, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Kahn Foutali'i, 1 Ethan Waller, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 3 Paul Hill, 4 Michael Paterson, 5 Christian Day, 6 Courtney Lawes,  7 Jamie Gibson, 8 Teimana Harrison

Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Victor Matfield, 20 Sam Dickinson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 JJ Hanrahan, 23 Tom Collins

Exeter Chiefs v Sale Sharks (3pm)

Sale Sharks have drawn the festive short straw, facing a 480-mile round-trip to Exeter, where they will face a Chiefs side who have tasted victory at home just once since September last year.

It is Exeter's first fixture at Sandy Park since their memorable Champions Cup victory over Clermont Auvergne and Sale boss Steve Diamond is all too aware of the task that face his side.

"We are looking forward to it" said Diamond. "What we've got to do is be highly-competitive. We know what a formidable forward pack they've got, and they have got some great players.

"We have got to go down there and be abrasive, otherwise we will be on the end of a hiding, so we've got to travel down and put on a performance. We should have won our last two away games in the Premiership, and we want to put that right."

The Chiefs are boosted by the return of Ben Moon and Mitch Lees to the pack, while behind Will Chudley and Sam Hill also return. Damian Welch will miss the clash due to an injured pectoral muscle.

Dan Braid returns to the Sale side and resumes his position of captain. Sam Tuitupou, Josh Beaumont, Danny Cipriani and TJ Ioane also feature.

Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman 14 Jack Nowell 13 Ian Whitten 12 Sam Hill 11 James Short 10 Gareth Steenson 9 Will Chudley 1 Ben Moon 2 Jack Yeandle (capt) 3 Tomas Francis 4 Mitch Lees 5 Geoff Parling 6 Don Armand 7 Julian Salvi 8 Thomas Waldrom

Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione 17 Carl Rimmer 18 Moray Low 19 Ollie Atkins 20 Tom Johnson 21 Dave Lewis 22 Will Hooley 23 Michele Campanaro 

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Tom Arscott, 13 Sam James, 12 Sam Tuitupou, 11 Will Addison, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Peter Stringer, 1 Ross Harrison, 2 Tommy Taylor, 3 Vadim Cobilas, 4 Jonathan Mills, 5 Bryn Evans, 6 Dan Braid (capt.), 7 TJ Ioane, 8 Josh Beaumont

Replacements: 16 Cameron Neild, 17 Eifion Lewis-Roberts, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Andrei Ostrikov, 20 Mark Easter, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mark Jennings

Leicester Tigers v Newcastle Falcons (3pm)

In-form Leicester Tigers, who have lost just once in all competitions this season welcome 11th placed Newcastle on Saturday.

Dean Richards' side have only two points so far this season but the Newcastle director of rugby believes they have been steadily improving ahead of their trip to Welford Road, culminating in a Challenge Cup victory over Connacht last weekend.

"We conceded a lot of penalties during the opening game of the season, and that followed us for a number of weeks," said Richards.

"Now, we are on a more even keel, we have sorted ourselves out on that and we are more competitive as a result. In some respects, [Connacht] was our best performance of the year.

"I think we are getting better every week, and the fact we are now creating and finishing opportunities speaks volumes for the style of play. We just have to do it more consistently."

Logovi'i Mulipola, Mathew Tait and Opeti Fonua return from injury to line up for Leicester Tigers while Newcastle hand a Premiership debut to fly half Craig Willis.

Leicester: 15 Mathew Tait, 14 Telusa Veainu, 13 Peter Betham, 12 Matt Smith, 11 Vereniki Goneva, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Jono Kitto, 1 Logovi'i Mulipola, 2 Harry Thacker, 3 Fraser Balmain, 4 Dom Barrow, 5 Ed Slater (capt), 6 Tom Croft, 7 Lachlan McCaffrey, 8 Laurence Pearce

Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Matias Aguero, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Opeti Fonua, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Tommy Bell, 23 Seremaia Bai 

Newcastle: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Alex Tait, 13 Belisario Agulla, 12 Chris Harris, 11 Marcus Watson, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Michael Young, 1 Rob Vickers, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Jon Welsh, 4 Mark Wilson, 5 Sean Robinson, 6 Ally Hogg, 7 Will Welch (capt), 8 Nili Latu

Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alex Rogers, 18 Taione Vea, 19 Mouritz Botha, 20 Todd Clever, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Tom Catterick, 23 Juan Pablo Socino