Aviva Premiership weekend preview: Northampton Saints seek to avoid 'busted flush' syndrome

Saints aiming to avoid third defeat this month

David Strettle plays ahead of Chris Ashton on the wing for Saracens against Northampton (Getty Images)

Northampton v Saracens

(3.15pm on Saturday)

Northampton will go into the last two rounds of the league campaign as table-toppers, irrespective of what unfolds before a record 27,000-plus crowd in Milton Keynes, but this may or may not tell the whole story. If Dylan Hartley and company re-group by beating their bitter rivals, the force could stay with them for the duration. If they lose for the third time this month, the words “busted” and “flush” will be bandied around.

After the European Champions Cup dismantling by Clermont Auvergne, followed by the Premiership setback at Exeter, the defending champions are less sure of themselves. The return of Salesi Ma’afu and Courtney Lawes should help restore some equilibrium up front, but Saracens are feeling good about this game, especially as it has been moved out of Franklin’s Gardens and into the larger World Cup venue 15 miles or so down the road.

The Londoners have selected wing David Strettle ahead of Chris Ashton, who starts on the bench. Alongside him will be the naturalised Australian prop Kieran Longbottom, who was setting influential tongues wagging before a long-term injury.

Wasps v Exeter (2pm on Sunday)

You have to like the look of this contest. The fourth-placed Devonians are five points ahead of their opponents, who start the weekend in sixth, and both have legitimate semi-final ambitions. As a result, neither can afford to lose, although Wasps are a little deeper in must-win territory.

The hosts have two box-office players – the wing Christian Wade and the No 8 Nathan Hughes – back from injury and suspension respectively, and Hughes, deeply unlucky to have been banned in the first place, will relish the opportunity to feed off the smash-and-grab flankers Ashley Johnson and James Haskell. Exeter have lost the full-back Phil Dollman to leg problems and Byron McGuigan fills the gap.

Sale v Harlequins (2pm on Saturday)

Sale are at risk of finishing seventh: just about the worst place, bar bottom, because automatic European qualification is reserved for the top half-dozen. Still, their two remaining home games are less than frightening and they could find themselves travelling to Exeter on the last day on a win-or-bust mission.

Most of the northerners’ star turns are included: Sam Tuitupou, Mark Cueto, Danny Cipriani, Dan Braid, Magnus Lund. The Londoners, meanwhile, could join their hosts on 48 points with a winning bonus and appear to be serious about doing just that with Marland Yarde, Nick Evans, Danny Care, Joe Marler and the England captain Chris Robshaw all starting.

Leicester v London Welsh (3pm on Saturday)

The relegated exiles are recruiting heavily for next season – the full-back Martyn Thomas, the wing Josh Drauniniu and the centre Guy Armitage signed contracts yesterday – and the signs are that they fancy another shot at Premiership rugby in 2016-17. Quite how this fits in with the top-flight clubs’ ring-fencing plans is a moot point, so the lawyers will be keeping a close eye on developments.

None of this changes the fact that another drubbing awaits. Leicester have moved Mathew Tait from full-back to outside centre – the position in which he might have been a world-beater with more sympathetic handling from a variety of England coaches.

Gloucester v Newcastle (3pm on Saturday)

The West Country club’s priority is next week’s European Challenge Cup final with Edinburgh, so some key personnel – the half-backs James Hook and Greig Laidlaw, the front-rowers Richard Hibbard and John Afoa – are on the bench. Newcastle have two first-choice loose forwards, Will Welch and Ally Hogg, back from injury.