Alex Coles reaches 150 Saints appearances as Northampton make nine changes for Leicester Derby

Alex Coles will make his 150th appearance for Northampton Saints on Saturday when they face Leicester in a Premiership Derby Day fixture at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, joining Fraser Dingwall, Rory Hutchinson and Alex Mitchell as the only current squad members to reach the landmark.

Eight years after his debut, the 27-year-old England lock is one of nine changes to the Saints starting XV. Emmanuel Iyogun, Curtis Langdon, Ed Prowse, Tom Pearson — who makes his first league start of the season — and Henry Pollock all come into the forward pack alongside Coles.

The backs also see three new faces. Fin Smith, the Premiership’s leading points scorer, starts at fly-half alongside Mitchell at scrum-half. Fraser Dingwall returns to the starting lineup and will captain the side from inside centre.

Northampton head into the fixture without a win at Mattioli Woods Welford Road against Leicester since January 2023, when a single point separated the sides in an 18-19 result. The last five meetings between the clubs have all been won by the home team on the day, a run that stretches back to Saints’ last away victory in the fixture.

Northampton’s most recent bragging rights came at home, when a Tom Litchfield hat-trick powered them to a 45-31 victory over Leicester in last season’s Premiership play-offs.

Northampton team vs Leicester:

15 James Pater, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (c), 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 4 Alex Coles, 5 Ed Prowse, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Tom Pearson, 8 Henry Pollock.

Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 JJ Van Der Mescht, 20 Tom Lockett, 21 Callum Chick, 22 Archie McParland, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.