TEAM NEWS | Saracens Men v Northampton Saints
Coach Kelly Brown has challenged the squad to continue the momentum built in recent weeks as Saracens shift their focus back to the Premiership Rugby Cup this weekend.
Sarries, who welcome Northampton Saints to StoneX Stadium on Saturday afternoon have registered back-to-back wins over Leicester Tigers and Newcastle Falcons to increase the feel-good factor among the group.
The North Londoners, who have won one and lost one in the Cup so far know that they need a victory against the Saints to keep alive their chances of making it through to the semi-finals.
Eroni Mawi, Kapeli Pifeleti and Sam Wainwright, who all featured at Kingston Park on Saturday start in the front-row, with Theo McFarland and Callum Hunter-Hill in a dynamic second-row pairing.
Ollie Stonham gets his chance at blindside, whilst Jackson Wray captains the team at openside and Andy Christie is at the base of the scrum.
Ruben de Haas and Manu Vunipola will be looking to make their mark as half-backs, and in the midfield Dom Morris is at 12 with academy star Josh Hallett at outside centre.
Rotimi Según keeps his place on the left wing after scoring the bonus point try in Newcastle, and Ben Harris returns to the right wing after crossing twice in the last Cup match against London Irish.
Elliott Obatoyinbo continues at full-back and will be looking to capitalise when any counter attacking opportunities come his way.
On the bench there could be a debut for Alex Jeffries who joined on loan from the Scarlets in February, and Brandon Jackson will aim to make another good impression after his stylish display at the Brentford Community Stadium in Round Two.
Brown says the group are all highly motivated to reignite their Cup campaign on Saturday.
“We have built some momentum in recent weeks and this is a great chance for these players to continue that.
The Cup competitions are always something that we pride ourselves on and we know that Northampton present a big challenge for us, but one that we need to overcome to put ourselves back in contention for the latter stages.”
Saracens Men team to play Northampton Saints:
1 Eroni Mawi
2 Kapeli Pifeleti
3 Sam Wainwright
4 Theo McFarland
5 Callum Hunter-Hill
6 Ollie Stonham
7 Jackson Wray (c)
8 Andy Christie
9 Ruben de Haas
10 Manu Vunipola
11 Rotimi Según
12 Dom Morris
13 Josh Hallett
14 Ben Harris
15 Elliott Obatoyinbo
Replacements:
16 Ethan Lewis
17 Sam Crean
18 Alex Jeffries
19 Obinna Nkwocha
20 Theo Dan
21 Sam Bryan
22 Francis Moore
23 Brandon Jackson
