Northampton Saints vs Bath Predictions: Golden-aged Saints primed for Title

After 18 rounds of action, The Premiership season will reach its climax on Saturday afternoon. A sold-out Twickenham Stadium will witness one of Northampton Saints or Bath Rugby raise the Premiership Trophy aloft.

Check out my Northampton Saints vs Bath prediction below.

Northampton guided themselves past the challenge of Saracens last week and it almost felt like a changing of the guard considering the sheer volume of the big names leaving Saracens next season, whilst Saints currently have a golden generation of their academy players that have burst through.

The Northampton scrum has been good all season but showed up in spades in the semi-final to catapult the Saints into the Final. Saints have really developed their defensive game this season - which is their biggest point of difference from previous seasons –whilst maintaining their attacking prowess. Fin Smith and Furbank as a second receiver; really get the Saints attack purring.

Bath fought off a spirited Sale side last week and eventually won by 8 points to book their Twickenham spot. They have developed their power game considerably, especially off the bench with impact players like Bayliss, Schoeman and Stuart.

Russell keeps defenses on their toes with flat balls to Bath runners whilst Redpath and Lawrence are ever-willing distributors and line threats themselves. The biggest question mark for Bath is whether they will be able to contain the Saints attack, as the game rests on the answer to that question.

Team News

Saints are entirely unchanged from last week – all 23 names are retained. Waller, Langdon and Davison will be in the front-row, with Moon and Coles in the second-row behind them. Brive-bound Lawes will be on the flank with the English youngster Pearson on the other side of the scrum. Augustus will be at no.8 as he continues to impress ahead of an inevitable Springbok call-up this Summer. Ludlam settles for a spot on the bench in his last game before he goes to Toulon this summer.

Mitchell and Fin Smith were both crucial vs Saracens last weekend and they continue their partnership in their Saints kits, whilst that could well develop into an England partnership in the upcoming International fixtures. Dingwall and Odendaal are in the midfield again and the back-three has plenty of weapons – Sleightholme, Freeman and Furbank will all be hungry and looking to make a stamp on this final

Van Graan has followed suit and also name an unchanged squad. The front-row will be Obano, Dunn and du Toit, with Schoeman and Stuart waiting in the wings to make an introduction off the bench.

Roux and Ewels partner again in the second-row behind them, with Hill and Underhill occupying the two flanker spots That leaves Barbeary starting again at no.8, with Bayliss primed to unleash some barnstorming runs like we’ve seen as of late.

Captain Spencer will partner with Russell at fly-half as usual, with Redpath and Lawrence in the midfield. The wingers of Muir and Cokanasiga offer Bath plenty of power in the wide channels, whilst Gallagher at full-back has developed into one of the best aerial full-backs in the Premiership.

Northampton Saints vs Bath Odds

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Northampton are 4/7 to win inside 80 minutes on Saturday, which gives them an implied probability of 63.6%, while Bath are 13/8 to triumph themselves.

Northampton -4 @ 5/6

With both sides preferring to play with fast speed of ball, this should be an electric final. What sets these two sides apart in my opinion though, is the patterns of play and intricate attack that Saints have in their arsenal.

That attack in combination with a solid set-piece and a strong defence, is the reason that Saints will win this final. They have produced some big performances in high-profile games this season – the remarkable win away at Thomond Park, the narrow loss to Leinster and the semi-final victory against Saracens, all will stand this squad in good stead as they head out at HQ in front of 80,000.

Finally, with names like Lawes, Ludlam, Waller and Moon playing their last game in a Saints shirt, you can bet they will give every inch of themselves to lift that Trophy.

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