Saints v Gloucester: Teams
Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe will make his 50th outing for Northampton when they return to Guinness Premiership action against Gloucester.
By Rachel Griffiths
Last Updated: 16/04/10 1:38pm
Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe will make his 50th outing for Northampton on Saturday when they return to Guinness Premiership action against Gloucester.
The forward, capped 66 times for Argentina, reaches the milestone as Saints look to recover from their Heineken Cup quarter-final defeat to Munster last weekend.
The Thomond Park loss ended Saints' hopes of a silverware triple this season, and director of rugby Jim Mallinder is now concentrating on the Premiership run-in, insisting a play-off spot is his side's top priority.
Challenge
"The Guinness Premiership is the only competition left for us now and we can put everything into it," said Mallinder.
"Tomorrow's game against Gloucester is the start of a tough week for us, but everyone is raring to play and looking forward to the challenge.
"We need wins to secure a place in the play-offs. There are still plenty of teams who are in with a chance of making the top four and we still need to pick up league points.
"But playing Gloucester will be difficult. They have a good platform up front and backs who can get over the gain line.
"They have been playing some good rugby over the past few weeks and we will have to be on top form to get a positive result on Saturday."
Scottish international flanker Alasdair Strokosch returns to the Gloucester side to travel to Franklin's Gardens after making his comeback from an ankle injury as a second half replacement against London Wasps last weekend.
Also restored to the back row is Jake Boer, who was unavailable last Sunday as he was not registered for European competition.
Gloucester head coach Bryan Redpath otherwise keeps faith in the majority of the side that started at Adams Park, with Mike Tindall continuing his role of skipper.
Improvement
The sides met only a few weeks ago when Saints edged the LV= Cup final at Sixways, and Redpath is hoping the Cherry and Whites can deliver an improved performance from that game.
"Our ball retention on that day wasn't great but we proved we can compete against Northampton. We've got to get our heads around going up there with nothing to lose," said Redpath.
Redpath also says his side learnt valuable lessons from their defeat to Wasps last Sunday, adding: "We had a lot of possession, a lot of territory. We didn't defend a huge amount. But we missed eight tackles in the game and four led to tries. It's pretty easy."
Northampton: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Dylan Hartley (capt), 3 Euan Murray, 4 Ignacio Fernandez, Lobbe, 5 Juandre Kruger, 6 Courtney Lawes, 7 Phil Dowson, 8 Roger Wilson.
Replacements:16 Brett Sharman, 17 Regardt Dreyer, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Neil Best, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Joe Ansbro.
Gloucester: 15 Freddie Burns, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Jonny May, 12 Mike Tindall (capt), 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Nicky Robinson, 9 Rory Lawson, 1 Nick Wood, 2 Olivier Azam, 3 Paul Doran-Jones, 4 Dave Attwood, 5 Alex Brown, 6 Alasdair Strokosch, 7 Jake Boer, 8 Adam Eustace.
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Pierre Capdevielle, 19 Will James, 20 Peter Buxton, 21 Jordi Pasqualin, 22 Olly Morgan, 23 Tom Voyce.