Red Bulls travel to Saints

Tomorrow afternoon sees Newcastle Red Bulls make the trip to Northampton for a Prem Cup match up. It seems like ages since the last game where Leicester edged out Red Bulls on Halloween at Kingston Park. Since then Newcastle have been on a training camp in North Yorkshire, there's hope that some of the squad integration that didn't get a chance to happen in the summer can be helped by that with new players coming in and connections being built.

Saints stars in squad

Northampton have a couple of familiar faces back from injury in George Furbank and Ollie Sleightholme who I'm sure would rather be taking to the field at Twickenham. They'll both be dangerous in open play and Furbank's ability to act as a playmaker will no doubt be utilised through the afternoon.

Frenchman Anthony Belleau who has had an impressive start to his Saints career starts at fly half. Making the transition from The Top 14 to The Prem isn't an easy one but he's shown he's a classy operator already.

In the forwards Tom West gets a start, he can be destructive in the scrum on his day. There's also a familiar name with Tonga'uiha starting at prop. That basically means I'm getting old as it's the son of Saints legend Soane! Sam Graham will add some power from the bench but otherwise it's a youthful Northampton side. However, Northampton have done well in age group rugby in the last few seasons so this crop will be looking to impress at home.

Red Bulls go strong

Red Bulls have named their side with a host of first team players selected including George McGuigan captaining McCallum and Palframan will look to take it to the Northampton scrum. Usher and Hodgson start in the second row, Usher even at this early stage is possibly nailed on for young player of the season. A back row of Neild, Leatherbarrow and Lockwood will look to impress with the riches that Red Bulls have in the back row. Leatherbarrow and Lockwood were both impressive last time out.

In the backs Stuart and Connon start at half back. There's a brand new centre partnership with Cameron Hutchinson and Stewart Moore starting, Ulster fans were disappointed to see Moore go so could be one to watch. The back three of Ethan Grayson, Harrison Obatoyinbo and Alex Hearle will be busy as Saints will no doubt look to play.

The bench will have impact from Faiva, Gordon and Clark. I like Faiva, he added some real physicality against Leicester.

Red Bulls control or Saints could run riot

On paper, this Red Bulls side is more than capable of beating Northampton, but they need to control things especially at half back. Saints will hope for a loose game and look to capitalise on Red Bulls mistakes.