Saints v Perpignan: Teams

Northampton face a crucial clash against Perpignan on Sunday needing a win to keep pace with pool leaders Munster ahead of next week's showdown.

Struggling Perpignan could head to the game with a weakened side but Saints coach Jim Mallinder is leaving nothing to chance.

Mallinder says that there has not been any talk of the Heineken Cup as a whole. Instead all the players' attention has been firmly on the task lying ahead of them on Sunday.

"Perpignan had a good win last weekend and showed that they are a champion team," he said.

"Whatever side they put out, we know they will be physical, skillful and challenging. They will come at us hard and fast from the first whistle, and we will have to be prepared for that.

The side includes Ben Foden, Lee Dickson and Chris Ashton in the starting XV, all of whom signed new two-year contracts this week.

Meanwhile, fly-half Steve Meyer returns to the Perpignan fold for the match after a long lay-off with injury,

Young scrum-half Florian Cazenave gets a start while Nicolas Durand recovers from injury.

There is no Nicolas Mas or Perry Freshwater in the front row, nor Jerome Porical at full-back though, suggesting that this is not an entirely full-strength side.

Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Shane Geraghty, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 1 Soane Tonga'uiha.
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Jon Vickers, 19 Christian Day, 20 Neil Best, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Chris Mayor.

Perpignan: 15 Philip Burger, 14 Adrien Plante, 13 Jean-Philippe Grandclaude, 12 Gavin Hume, 11 Christophe Manas, 10 Steve Meyer, 9 Florian Cazenave, 8 Grégory Le Corvec, 7 Jean-Pierre Perez, 6 Guilhem Guirado, 5 Rimas Alvarez Kairelis, 4 Yoann Vivalda, 3 Benoit Bourrust, 2 Marius Tincu, 1 Sebastien Chobet.
Replacements: 16 Charles Geli, 17 Jérôme Schuster, 18 Kisi Pulu, 19 Robins Tchale Watchou, 20 David Mele, 21 Joffrey Michel, 22 Nicolas Laharrague, 23 Yannick Parent.