Tom Wood of Northampton
Tom Wood of Northampton

Northampton Saints v Stade Francais: European Champions Cup play-off team news


Northampton Saints have made just one change to the side that beat Connacht as they prepare to face Stade Francais for a place in next season's Champions Cup.

The match kicks off at 1945 BST on Friday May 26 and will be screened live on Sky Sports 2 HD

Check out all of Sky Bet's Northampton v Stade Francais odds!

Jim Mallinder's men kept alive their hopes of playing in the top-flight European competition next season with a hard-fought 21-15 victory over Connacht in the second play-off at Franklin's Gardens last weekend and will now face a shoot out with Stade Francais for the last remaining spot.

The Saints coaches have made just the one change to the starting line-up from the win over Connacht, with Tom Wood returning to captain the side from the back row.

Their opponents, Stade Francais booked their place in the final two with a 46-21 win over Cardiff Blues, a week after being crowned Challenge Cup winners at Murrayfield.

The TOP14 side trailed at the break against the Welsh region but they crossed for six tries after the break to set up the clash with the Saints.

This is the first time that the two clubs have met in European competition, the only previous clash coming back in 2002 in a pre-season friendly which ended 33-all.

Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Ben Foden, 13 Nafi Tuitavake, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 George North, 10 Harry Mallinder, 9 Nic Groom, 1 Alex Waller, 2 Dylan Hartley, 3 Kieran Brookes, 4 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 6 Teimana Harrison, 7 Tom Wood, 8 Louis Picamoles.

Replacements: 16 Mikey Haywood, 17 Campese Ma'afu, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Jamie Gibson, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Rory Hutchinson.

Stade Francais: 15 Djibril Camara, 14 Waisea Vuidarvuwalu, 13 Geoffrey Doumayrou, 12 Jonathan Danty, 11 Jérémy Sinzelle, 10 Jules Plisson, 9 Will Genia, 1 Zurabi Zhvania, 2 Remi Bonfils, 3 Paul Alo Emile, 4 Willem Alberts, 5 Paul Gabrillagues, 6 Antoine Burban, 7 Raphael Lakafia, 8 Jonathan Ross.

Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Rabah Slimani, 18 Giorgi Melikidze, 19 Mathieu De Giovanni, 20 Sekou Macalou, 21 Clement Daguin, 22 Morné Steyn, 23 Herman Meyer Bosman.

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