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No Northampton changes in team named for Gallagher Premiership final

Northampton celebrate Burger Odendaal's semi-final try against Saracens (Photo by Andrew Kearns/CameraSport via Getty Images)

Phil Dowson has unveiled an unchanged Northampton starting line-up for Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership final on the back of last weekend’s semi-final success over Saracens.

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The Saints dethroned the defending champions 22-20 at Franklin’s Gardens and so impressed was Dowson with his squad that he has named the same match day 23, including a repeat six/two forwards/backs bench split, for the Twickenham showpiece.

Rivals Bath have done likewise following their semi-final success over Sale, naming the same match day 23 and sticking with a six/two divide on their bench.

A statement read: “Phil Dowson has named a completely unchanged matchday 23 as Northampton Saints head to their first Gallagher Premiership final since 2014, facing Bath in the league’s showpiece finale on Saturday.

“Saints topped the league during the regular season, winning 12 of their 18 matches before defeating reigning champions Saracens 22-20 in last week’s sold-out semi-final clash at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

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“Northampton will make only their third appearance in the final in the competition’s history, exactly a decade on from lifting Saints’ first-ever domestic league title; and face Bath in a final for only the second time in all competitions, having defeated them side 30-16 in Cardiff to lift the Challenge Cup in 2014.

“Saints will bid farewell to several club stalwarts in the last match of the 2023/24 season, with Courtney Lawes leading the team on his 283rd and final match representing Northampton, while triple centurion Alex Waller, 122-time Saint Alex Moon and club captain Lewis Ludlam are also among those making their final bow in the matchday 23.

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“England internationals Curtis Langdon, Trevor Davison, Alex Coles and Tom Pearson all retain their places in Saints’ pack alongside captain Lawes and lock Moon, with No8 Juarno Augustus, who beat more defenders than any other player in the semi-finals (five), also staying on to complete the pack.

“Scrum-half Alex Mitchell, who made more clean breaks (four) than any other player in last weekend’s clash, joins top-points scorer Fin Smith in the half-back berths for the final time this season.

“Saints stick with their prolific back-three combination of Ollie Sleightholme, Tommy Freeman and George Furbank, with Fraser Dingwall partnering last week’s only try-scorer Burger Odendaal in Northampton’s midfield.

“Back row Ludlam will make his final appearances as a Saint from amongst Northampton’s replacements, while there is also room for Sam Matavesi, Emmanuel Iyogun, Elliot Millar-Mills, Temo Mayanavanua, Sam Graham, Tom James and George Hendy as Saints opt for a 6-2 split on the bench for the final.”

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Dowson said: “Throughout the season, we have had lots and lots of players contribute a lot. We have relied on the depth of the squad and there are a lot of players who are unlucky not to be involved and are frustrated about that.

“Clearly it is difficult to pick for big games like this, because these are the games that define people. It’s a big game that everyone wants to play in, so there is some disappointment and pressure around that, but we have gone with the team that we think best suits us to get a good performance.

“There is a responsibility for every player picked to wear that shirt and represent all of us. We win together, we lose together, it is a huge squad effort and everyone has a role to play. It might not be the role you choose at the moment, but you have got to keep on grafting away until it is.”

Northampton (vs Bath, Saturday): 15. George Furbank; 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Burger Odendaal, 12. Fraser Dingwall, 11. Ollie Sleightholme; 10. Fin Smith, 9. Alex Mitchell; 1. Alex Waller, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3. Trevor Davison, 4. Alex Moon, 5. Alex Coles, 6. Courtney Lawes (capt), 7. Tom Pearson, 8. Juarno Augustus. Reps: 16. Sam Matavesi, 17. Emmanuel Iyogun, 18. Elliot Millar-Mills, 19. Temo Mayanavanua, 20. Sam Graham, 21. Lewis Ludlam, 22. Tom James, 23. George Hendy.

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J
JW 3 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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