Northampton Saints v Newcastle Red Bulls: Big match preview

Competition: Gallagher PREM (round one)

Date and kick-off time: Friday, September 25, 2026, 7.45pm

Venue: DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe

Assistant referees: George Selwood and Veryan Boscawen

No.4: Neil Chivers

TMO: Ian Tempest

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

Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Josh Taylor, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Harrison Obatoyinbo; 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Chris Harris, 11 Werner Kok; 10 Brett Connon, 9 James Elliott; 1 Pouri Rakete-Stones, 2 George McGuigan, 3 Elliot Millar Mills; 4 Oscar Usher, 5 Cam Jordan; 6 Max Hicks, 7 Tom Christie (c), 8 Sam Graham.

Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Tom West, 18 James Harper, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Zack Henry, 23 Hoskins Sotutu.

Not available for Saints selection: Ben Alexander, Trevor Davison, Malik Faissal, Luke Green, Tom Litchfield, Henry Lumley, Aidan Pugh, Oliver Scola, Toby Thame, Edoardo Todaro, JJ van der Mescht, Lefty Zigiriadis.

Most recent meeting: March 21, 2026: Saints 28 Newcastle Red Bulls 27 (Gallagher PREM)

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson: "Obviously a huge amount of recruitment has been done (at Newcastle) throughout last season and over the summer, and it's a team who are desperate to show what they're capable of. They have the backing of sports giant Red Bull and they've got a side who will be desperate, that has tons of talent and will be eager to hit the ground running and take a scalp."

Newcastle Red Bulls head coach Dan McFarland: “It couldn’t be set up any better, because you’ve got the team at the back of the grid going away to the team in pole position. Northampton won the title last season playing a fantastic style of rugby, they’re really well coached and have got many of the best young players around. For us this is exactly the kind of challenge that a Red Bull team would relish going after, and that’s what we’re doing.”

Opposition danger man: Newcastle have recruited some good players during the summer, and one of their most important signings could be former Saints No.8 Sam Graham. It’s fair to say he knows his way around the Gardens, having performed so well in the black, green and gold before departing at the end of last season with a second PREM winners medal in his pocket. He will be desperate to secure a win at his old stomping ground on Friday night.

Tom Vickers’ pre-match thoughts: Saints were pushed all the way by Newcastle in both PREM meetings last season, and with the Red Bulls having recruited heavily during the summer, this is sure to be another tough test. The away side will hope to catch the champions cold with not much build-up time for the international stars, but Saints have to set the tone in the right way for the new campaign and they will be desperate to assert their authority in front of another big Friday night crowd at the newly-named DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens. There is no doubt that Elliot Millar Mills and Graham will add extra nous to that Newcastle starting line-up and it will be good to welcome them back to the Gardens. But Saints will hope to ensure it’s not a winning return to Northampton for their former players.