Northampton Saints vs Leicester Tigers

Bruce Reihana will pass a major landmark when he runs out with the Northampton Saints team to play Leicester tomorrow afternoon.

This is because the LV= Cup Round 4 match will be the former All Black's 200th for the Franklin's Gardens club. Coincidentally, the opposition for this game is the same as his first, some seven-and-a-half years ago.

It is a crunch game for both teams. The Saints need to win to secure a home semi-final, while Leicester need a win to stand a chance of qualifying from their own pool.

Director of rugby Jim Mallinder today congratulated Reihana on reaching the milestone.

"Bruce remains one of our outstanding players, on and off the field," he said. "His standards of play have remained consistently high and he sets a good example for the younger players in his approach to the game and in the way that he trains. Not many players reach this kind of milestone and it reflects Bruce's attitude towards the club.

"Tomorrow's game will certainly not be an easy ride for him or the rest of the team. We want to progress in the competition and maintain our home record, while Leicester need a win if they are to stand any chance to top their pool.

"The players performed well up at Sale last weekend, but they now have to back that up with another good 80 minutes on home turf tomorrow."

Meanwhile Geordan Murphy will make his return from injury to claim a place in the Leicester Tigers squad.

Head coach Richard Cockerill has made just two changes to the starting line-up following last week's win over Bath Rugby.

Tom Youngs comes into the front row and Dan Hemingway, one of the starters in the historic win over South Africa in November, is named alongside Ben Kay in the second row.

The backline that started the bonus-point win over Bath is retained, with Aaron Mauger named as captain.

Murphy is joined by fellow Ireland international Jeremy Staunton among the replacements.

"It was key for us to get the bonus point against Bath last week and take something into this last fixture in the pool," said Cockerill.

"We brought in a few guys last week who had not had much rugby and they all came through fine. Now we've had a good week working up to this one and we're looking forward to it.

"Northampton have always been huge rivals and they are always big occasions when we meet."

Northampton Saints vs Leicester Tigers
Venue Franklin's Gardens,
Date : Saturday, February 6th, 2010,
Kick off 3:00pm,

Teams

Northampton Saints

15 Bruce Reihana , 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Joe Ansbro, 12 Chris Mayor, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Alan Dickens, 1 Soane Tonga'uiha, 2 Brett Sharman, 3 Brian Mujati, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe (capt), 5 Juandre Kruger, 6 Mark Easter, 7 Neil Best, 8 Roger Wilson

Replacements, 16 Andy Long, 17 Adam Parkins, 18 Alex Waller, 19 James Cannon, 20 Owen Giles, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Barry Everitt, 23 James Downey

Leicester Tigers

15 Lucas Amorosino, 14 Alesana Tuilagi, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Aaron Mauger (c), 11 Matt Smith, 10 Sam Vesty, 9 Harry Ellis, 1 Boris Stankovich, 2 Tom Youngs, 3 Julian White, 4 Dan Hemingway , 5 Ben Kay, 6 Ben Pienaar, 7 Ben Woods, 8 Brett Deacon

Replacements , 16 Joe Duffey, 17 Robbie Harris, 18 Ryan Bower, 19 Rob Conquest, 20 Matt Everard, 21 James Grindal, 22 Jeremy Staunton, 23 Geordan Murphy

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