Ton up for Saint Tonga'uiha
Soane Tonga’uiha will become the latest Saints centurion when he runs out with his Northampton teammates on Saturday afternoon for their very important Round 12 game against London Irish.
The Tongan prop is the third Saint to reach the landmark in the past few weeks, following hot on the heels of centre Jon Clarke and Northampton club captain Dylan Hartley.
He joined the Saints from near-neighbours Bedford Blues in 2006 and made his debut in the opening game of that season’s Guinness Premiership. Tonga’uiha has scored 10 tries in his 99 appearances to date, including two this season.
“Soane has really knuckled down in the past couple of seasons and is starting to play to his potential,” said Saints director of rugby Jim Mallinder.
“He is still relatively young for a prop and has plenty of years left in him. But he will have to play extremely well tomorrow, as will the rest of the team, against a talented London Irish outfit.
“They like to play a constructive style of rugby and score a lot of tries. They also have good kickers too, like Ryan Lamb, Chris Malone and Peter Hewat, and are able to keep the score board ticking over.
“If we are to get a positive result we will have to play with control, impose our game plan and be as clinical as we were in the second half against Worcester.”
Having played leaders Saracens at home last Sunday, London Irish travel to Franklin’s Gardens for the afternoon’s second against third clash with the Saints.
There are two changes to the starting line-up of the team that played last Sunday – Kieran Roche starts at blindside flank and Paul Hodgson comes in at scrum half.
“We produced a top class performance against Saracens last Sunday and showed what a quality side we can be,” said London Irish Head Coach Toby Booth. “We need to maintain those standards as we head into the second half of the season.
“After watching Northampton in recent weeks, it is clear that they contest the breakdown very hard and push the laws to the limit. We will need to focus on that aspect of tomorrow’s match to ensure we have a good attacking platform,” Booth added.
The Teams:
Northampton Saints: 15 Ben Foden, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Jon Clarke, 12 James Downey, 11 Paul Diggin, 10 Stephen Myler, 9 Lee Dickson, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Phil Dowson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Juandre Kruger, 4 Ignacio Fernandez Lobbe, 3 Euan Murray, 2 Dylan Hartley (captain), 1 Soane Tonga’uiha
Replacements: 16 Brett Sharman, 17 Jon Vickers, 18 Brian Mujati, 19 Christian Day, 20 Neil Best,
21 Alan Dickens, 22 Shane Geraghty, 23 Chris Mayor
London Irish: 15 Delon Armitage, 14 Tom Homer, 13 Elvis Seveali’i, 12 Seilala Mapusua, 11 Peter Hewat, 10 Chris Malone, 9 Paul Hodgson, 8 Chris Hala’Ufia, 7 Steffon Armitage, 6 Kieran Roche, 5 Bob Casey, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Paulica Ion, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody
Replacements: 16 Danie Coetzee, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Faan Rautenbach, 19 Andy Perry, 20 Jonathon Fisher, 21 John Rudd, 22. Ryan Lamb, 23. Alfredo Lalanne
Date: Saturday, 2 January
Venue: Franklin’s Gardens
Time: 15.00 (15.00 GMT)
