Northampton Saints vs Bayonne Prediction: Saints to march on in Europe

The Champions Cup resumes on Friday when Premiership leaders Northampton Saints host a Bayonne side struggling in the French Top 14.

The Saints are flying in domestic rugby and a 42-36 victory at fellow title contenders Exeter Chiefs last time out made it seven wins in a row in all competitions for Phil Dowson’s side.

Meanwhile, Bayonne suffered their seventh defeat of the season last time out in a one point loss to second-placed Bordeaux Begles, with the French outfit now winning just one of their last five.

Team News

The Saints have rung the changes for this European clash, with the most notable inclusion being the return of Courtney Lawes at the centre of the pack.

The Gallagher Player of the Month for December was rested for the win over the Chiefs but returns as one of eight players entering the starting line-up, while Ollie Sleightholme moves from 14 to 11.

Alex Waller, Curtis Langdon, Temo Mayanavanua, Tom Pearson, Alex Mitchell, Fraser Dingwall and Tommy Freeman all come into the XV. Tom Litchfield, Sam Matavesi, Angus Scott-Young and Alexander Moon make the bench, while Callum Braley, Tarek Haffar, Chunya Munga and the injured Burger Odendaal miss out entirely.

L’Aviron have also made plenty of amendments to the team sheet, with three changes apiece in the scrum and the back line.

Thomas Acquier and Thomas Ceyte are replaced by Facundo Bosch and Manuel Leindekar, whilst Baptiste Heguy comes in for Uzair Cassiem who drops to the bench.

The French trio of Camille Lopez, Guillaume Martocq and Arnaud Erbinartegaray are also replaced in the starting line-up, with Thomas Dolhagaray, Nadir Megdoud and Aurelien Callandret replacing them.

Match Odds

Northampton are the favourites for this cup clash with odds of 1/20, while a shock victory for Bayonne can be backed at 17/2.

A draw is priced at 28/1, while the Saints to win by no more than five points has odds of 11/1.

Northampton Saints to win by 1-12 points inclusive @ 11/4

The Saints are flying in the Premiership and also find themselves top of the pile in Group 3 of the Champions Cup, with two wins from two.

However, the English side have been made to work for many of their victories this season, with a last minute converted try snatching a win from the jaws of defeat against Exeter last Saturday.

Nine of the 13 wins claimed by the Saints in all competitions this season have seen a winning margin of less than seven points, indicating that they are rarely finding comfort in their performances.

Bayonne have won just three of their last 10 and lost three of their last five in all competitions, with two of these coming by just a single point.

The French side also claimed a rare draw in recent games, a 17-17 tie against Munster in this competition in their first match of this season’s edition.

While the Saints are likely to extend their winning run, Bayonne are likely to make things difficult for the Premiership leaders and another close game is to be expected.

Check out the rest of our Rugby Union Betting Tips here.