Northampton Saints v Clermont Auvergne: Big match preview

Did you know with an ad-lite subscription to Northampton Chronicle and Echo, you get 70% fewer ads while viewing the news that matters to you. Venue: cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton Date and kick-off time: Friday, April 4, 2025, 8pm Weather forecast: 12c, clear Live television coverage: Premier Sports Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland) Assistant referees: Andrew Cole and Padraic Reidy (both Ireland) No.4: James Clarke (England) TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa) Saints: 15.

James Ramm; 14. Tommy Freeman, 13. Burger Odendaal, 12.



Fraser Dingwall (c), 11. George Hendy; 10. Fin Smith, 9.

Alex Mitchell; 1. Emmanuel Iyogun, 2. Curtis Langdon, 3.

Trevor Davison; 4. Temo Mayanavanua, 5. Alex Coles; 6.

Josh Kemeny, 7. Henry Pollock, 8. Juarno Augustus.

Advertisement Advertisement Replacements: 16. Henry Walker, 17. Tom West, 18.

Luke Green, 19. Tom Lockett, 20. Angus Scott-Young, 21.

Tom Pearson, 22. Tom James, 23. Rory Hutchinson.

Clermont Auvergne: 15. Alex Newsome; 14. Bautista Delguy, 13.

Irae Simone, 12. George Moala, 11. Alivereti Raka; 10.

Anthony Belleau, 9. Sebastien Bezy; 1. Giorgi Akhaladze, 2.

Barnabe Massa, 3. Cristian Ojovan; 4. Rob Simmons, 5.

Thomas Ceyte; 6. Pita-Gus Sowakula, 7. Killian Tixeront, 8.

Fritz Lee (c) Replacements: 16. Folau Fainga'a, 17. Etienne Falgoux, 18.

Michael Ala'alatoa, 19. Anthime Hemery, 20. Alexandre Fischer, 21.

Jules Bousquet, 22. Ben Urdapilleta, 23. Pierre Fouyssac.

Not considered for Saints selection: Emeka Atuanya, George Furbank, Sam Graham, George Makepeace-Cubitt, Archie McParland, Toby Thame, Ollie Sleightholme, Robbie Smith. Advertisement Advertisement Most recent meeting: March 31, 2019: Clermont Auvergne 61 Saints 38 (European Challenge Cup quarter-final) Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: "They've got a massive pack, a huge maul threat, big scrum opportunity, they want to get stuck into that. They maul and scrum for outcomes non-stop and they've got a very, very talented backline with people like (Alivereti) Raka and (George) Moala and others.

They're packed full of fantastic players so we need to be on our mettle." Opposition dangerman: Clermont have numerous threats, but experienced centre George Moala was the key man in the win against La Rochelle last weekend, and he will look to have a big say here. Tom Vickers’ prediction: Saints will be desperate to get back on track in front of their own supporters as they bid to turn in a much better performance than they did against Leicester a couple of weeks ago.

They will have to be at their fluent best to prevail here against a powerful Clermont side. Saints 34 Clermont 29..