It's just another game as Saints take on Tigers
Northampton Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder insists tomorrow evening's Guinness Premiership clash with Leicester Tigers is just another game.
Franklin's Gardens has been sold out for some time for the East Midlands derby.
And while Mallinder appreciates that supporters of both sides have been eagerly awaiting the action all season he insists that the Saints squad has been approaching the game no differently than any other.
"Local derbies are important, especially from a supporter's point of view, but in terms of our overall Guinness Premiership campaign tomorrow's game is as vital as any other," he said.
"Every league point matters as much in every Premiership round. Tomorrow evening we will be giving our all to win all of the league points that are on offer.
"To do so we will have to put in another good performance. When Leicester came back from a 19-point deficit to beat Bath last weekend they showed that they have the ability to play for the full 80 minutes and the quality to create and finish chances.
"However we produced some good rugby in beating Bristol and are looking forward to meeting the challenge of facing Leicester."
Mallinder also paid tribute to the Saints' supporters, and asked them to continue their own good form during tomorrow's match.
"The Franklin's Gardens crowd has created a superb atmosphere every game so far this season and I am delighted that the game is a sell out," he said.
"Seeing as much black, green and gold in the stands as possible and hearing the massive amount of noise that the fans create will give the players a massive boost when they run out onto the field."
Saints side to face Leicester: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Paul Diggin, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 1 Tom Smith, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Euan Murray, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 5 Juandre Kruger, 6 Mark Easter, 7 Scott Gray, 8 Mark Hopley. Reps: 16 Paul Shields, 17 Soane Tonga'uiha, 18 Christian Day, 19 Courtney Lawes, 20 Bruce Reihana, 21 Carlos Spencer, 22 Chris Mayor.
Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy, 14 Johne Murphy, 13 Seru Rabeni, 12 Aaron Mauger, 11 Matt Smith, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Julien Dupuy, 1 Boris Stankovich, 2 George Chuter, 3 Julian White, 4 Marco Wentzel, 5 Ben Kay, 6 Tom Croft, 7 Ben Herring, 8 Brett Deacon. Reps: 16 Benjamin Kayser, 17 Martin Castrogiovanni, 18 Martin Corry, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Ben Youngs, 21 Sam Vesty, 22 Scott Hamilton.
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Weather for Kettering
Thursday 09 February 2012
Today
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