Saints v Montpellier: Teams

Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder has called on his team to improve their performance levels ahead of Saturday's match against Montpellier.

Saints received many plaudits for their win in Toulon, but Mallinder says that all of that work will be undone if Montpellier leave Franklin's Gardens with the points.

"Our Challenge Cup pool is of an extremely high standard," he said. "With quality teams like Montpellier in the group we cannot afford to slip up at all.

"I was happy that we came away from France with the win last week but we now have to back that up with another good performance at home against a very good Montpellier team.

"Montpellier are an ambitious club who have started the Top 14 season well. They also got off to a great start in the Challenge Cup by beating Bristol last week.

"They played some excellent rugby and will be disappointed that they didn't score more points. Some of France's best young players play for Montpellier and they, as well as coach Didier Nourault, are hungry for success. It will be an exciting and challenging match."

Mallinder has made just one change to the 22-man squad that beat Toulon, with Christian Day replacing Matt Lord on the bench.

Confident visitors

Montpellier arrive fresh off the back of a victory over another Guinness Premiership outfit, Bristol.

They will have in their ranks former New Zealand scrum-half Justin Marshall, who is confident he can help the French side cause an upset on their travels.

He said: "We have ambitions at this club to be one of the best teams in France, and exposure to the likes of Bristol and Northampton is a key part of that development.

"I don't think it's too soon for us to be competitive in Europe, and we showed last week against Bristol that we are capable of winning our home games.

"Without giving away too many state secrets, we are quite a mobile side. We are not as heavy in the forwards as the likes of Stade Francais, Toulouse and Biarritz - who have big packs.

"There is no point in running into their packs all day when they are that much bigger than us, so we look to our strengths and try and move the ball about instead of just smashing into the opposition players."

Northampton: 15 Bruce Reihana (c), 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 James Downey, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Ben Foden, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Scott Gray, 6 Mark Hopley, 5 Courtney Lawes , 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Tom Smith.
Replacements: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Soane Tonga'uiha, 18 Christian Day, 19 Ben Lewitt, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Barry Everitt, 22 Paul Diggin.

Montpellier: 15 Olivier Sarramea, 14 Thierry Brana, 13 Oliver Smith, 12 Endrikus Lubbe, 11 Jean-Matthieu Alcalde, 10 Federico Todeschini, 9 Julien Tomas (capt), 8 Louis Picamoles, 7 Vassili Bost, 6 Warren Britz, 5 Michel Macurdy, 4 Gancalo Uva, 3 Bruce Douglas, 2 Fabien Rofes, 1 Sebastien Petit.

Replacements: 16 Joan Caudullo, 17 Philemon Toleafoa, 18 Eugene Van Staden, 19 Benjamin Goze, 20 Jerome Vallee, 21 Adrien Tomas, 22 Sylvain Mirande.