Saints vs Tigers is always a big game
Northampton Saints Director of Rugby Jim Mallinder says that he is looking forward to the first East Midlands derby at the redeveloped Welford Road.
The Saints have been preparing this week without their quartet of England players. But Mallinder says that the attitude of the rest of the squad has been focused on the game ahead of them, not on who has been absent.
"Northampton against Leicester is always a big game, no matter who is pulling on the shirts," the Saints boss said to the clubs official website on Friday.
"You have to have a good attitude going into a derby match and our players have been training well this week. There is no point thinking about who isn’t going to be playing. All we have been thinking about is who is going to be representing the club on Saturday evening and we're looking forward to another match in front of a big crowd."
Meanwhile, Aaron Mauger returns from injury to lead out Leicester Tigers.
All Blacks centre Mauger claims his place in a backline which is otherwise unchanged from the starting XV at London Irish last weekend. He takes the place of Dan Hipkiss who is on England duty.
Mefin Davies returns from injury to complete an all-international front row with Marcos Ayerza and Martin Castrogiovanni, while Richard Blaze partners Ben Kay at lock. Geoff Parling moves into the back row, alongside Ben Pienaar and Brett Deacon.
England Under-20 international wing Will Hurrell is added to a Guinness Premiership matchday squad for the first time.
"We got a couple of guys back from England training and having Aaron Mauger back is very good news," said Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill.
"Both teams are up there in the table and this is a big game because you want to go into the two-week break from the Guinness Premiership in a decent position to push on again when we come back.
"It's a local derby in front of a big crowd and it is going to be a big day for the club."
Tigers are without six England players ahead of the autumn internationals and Billy Twelvetrees has been ruled out by injury this week.
The teams:
Leicester Tigers: 15 Scott Hamilton, 14 Lucas Amorosino, 13 Anthony Allen, 12 Aaron Mauger (captain), 11 Johne Murphy, 10 Jeremy Staunton, 9 James Grindal, 8 Brett Deacon, 7 Ben Pienaar, 6 Geoff Parling, 5 Ben Kay, 4 Richard Blaze, 3 Martin Castrogiovanni, 2 Mefin Davies, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Tom Youngs, 17 Dan Cole, 18 Boris Stankovich, 19 Calum Green, 20 Dan Hemingway, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Andy Forsyth, 23 Will Hurrell.
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Bruce Reihana, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Neil Best, 6 Phil Dowson (captain), 5 Christian Day, 4 James Cannon, 3 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Regardt Dreyer.
Replacements: 16 Joe Gray, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Jon Vickers, 19 Mark Easter, 20 Scott Gray, 21 Alan Dickens, 22 Barry Everitt, 23 Joe Ansbro.
Date: Saturday, October 31
Venue: Welford Road
Time: 17.35 (17.35 GMT)
Referee: Dave Pearson