Bruce Reihana will spearhead Northampton's bid to claim another priceless Zurich Premiership victory tomorrow, and the New Zealander admits: "Every game is like a cup final for us now."

Northampton beat runaway league leaders Leicester last time out, a result which lifted Saints off the foot of the Premiership with just five matches remaining.

Reihana and company must now overcome the loss of injured England wing Ben Cohen - and a Gloucester side reeling from an extra-time Powergen Cup semi-final defeat against Bath five days ago - to edge further towards safety.

"Everyone needs to front-up and do their jobs, be accurate, be physical and be hungry to play well," said Reihana, ahead of the Kingsholm clash.

"Every game is like a cup final for us now."

Wylie Human replaces Cohen, who suffered a fractured cheekbone during the IRB Tsunami Aid game at Twickenham last weekend, while Mark Soden enters the back-row equation instead of broken rib victim Darren Fox.

Worcester, boosted by a superb run of recent league wins, will move up to seventh if they beat Recreation Ground hosts Bath tomorrow and London Irish lose at Leicester tonight.

With seven Premiership victories already banked in their first season among English rugby's top-flight, one more success should guarantee survival.

"We have to start well, because Bath have just played 100 minutes of intense cup rugby and they will want to get off to a good start," said Worcester rugby director John Brain.

"The longer we can stay in the game, then that fatigue may be a factor. However, you can't afford - as we found out at Gloucester recently - to play poorly for 40 minutes away from home in this league and get away with it."

Bath could be without centre Andrew Higgins, who suffered a recurrence of hamstring trouble in training this week, but former England prop David Flatman might find himself on replacement duty following a prolonged injury battle.

Leicester coach John Wells has claimed that Tigers are "at a massive disadvantage" going into tonight's Welford Road clash against Irish.

The Tigers, within touching distance of a play-off final place at Twickenham, will face an Exiles side 29 points and seven place below them.

But, having come unstuck against Northampton last time out, Leicester once again face an important league game minus their sizeable contingent of RBS 6 Nations stars.

Irish, in contrast, have no major representative call-ups to worry about apart from lock Bob Casey's absence through Ireland A commitments.

"Against Northampton, we were outplayed against a team that perhaps wanted to win more," said Wells.

"At the moment, we are playing clubs that are desperate to retain their Premiership status.

"While a top versus bottom (or a top versus near the bottom clash like this weekend) might look like an attractive game, as it did against Northampton, we are at a massive disadvantage, given the relative strengths of the squads."

Irish coach Gary Gold, meanwhile, has changed a third of the team beaten by Powergen Cup semi-final opponents Leeds last Sunday.

"We let everyone down badly in Leeds last weekend with an unacceptable performance," he said.

"Now, we have an opportunity to put that right and restore belief in our ability."

Newcastle are likely to have fit-again England superstar Jonny Wilkinson on the bench for Sunday's appointment with Harlequins at The Stoop, while Saracens face Sale Sharks and Wasps, who yesterday signed Quins prop Jon Dawson on a two-year contract, host rock-bottom Leeds.