Mitchell returns but McParland takes centre stage for Northampton in Prem Final

Scrum-half Archie McParland will make his 50th appearance for Northampton Saints, with fit-again England and Lions international Alex Mitchell having to settle for a place on the bench for Saturday’s Prem Final against Exeter.

Mitchell has replaced Jonny Weimann as the back-up at nine in the only change to the matchday 23 fielded in the play-off semi-final win over Leicester.

Milestone man McParland is the youngest Saint in the professional era, having made his debut aged 17 years and 222 days old back in 2022.

This term has been a breakthrough one for the now 21-year-old, seeing him feature in 24 of Northampton’s outings and score an impressive 14 tries along the way.

The scrum-half brings up his half century alongside fly-half Fin Smith in Saints’ half-back berths.

Outside them, Scotland international Rory Hutchinson and Saints’ Players’ Player of the Season Tom Litchfield reprise their roles in the midfield.

Captain George Furbank starts at fullback in his farewell appearance before joining Harlequins, while George Hendy and Tommy Freeman man Northampton’s wings.

Emmanuel Iyogun, Curtis Langdon and Elliot Millar Mills form Saints’ front row in the final, while Ed Prowse partners Alex Coles in the engine room.

Josh Kemeny, Tom Pearson and Henry Pollock complete Saints’ unchanged starting line-up as they take up their places in the back row – with the latter topping the stats in last week’s game against Leicester, as he made 110 metres from 27 carries, along with 11 tackles.

Northampton stick with a six-two bench in the final, including the return of Mitchell.

Ahead of the final, Saints’ Director of Rugby, Phil Dowson, said: “This is week 50 for this group, having started preseason back in July, and now this is the last hurdle. This is a special week and we want to make sure that we enjoy that, but also stick to our guns and rely on what’s got us to this point as a group. We want to make the occasion special and the performance normal.

“So many finals are close affairs; we’ve had two great match-ups with Exeter already this season so I’m sure Saturday will be no different.

“We know the quality of Chiefs. We were a long way ahead in that first game of the season and they came back at us, not too dissimilarly to how they did against Bath last weekend. The tenacity, cohesion, and belief that Exeter have has been on show throughout this season.

“The final is a brand-new game and we’ll need to be aware of those threats, but our focus is firmly on ourselves. We know the unity of our squad is a huge strength.

“We also know that you can train for these occasions and these environments – we’ve just got to trust that training when the pressure comes on.”

Eleven of Saturday’s matchday 23 featured in the 2024 final, when Northampton beat Bath to become English champions for the second time – Furbank, Freeman, Hendy, Dingwall, Smith and Mitchell in the backs and Langdon, Coles, Pearson, Iyogun and Millar Mills in the forwards.

Northampton: 

15 George Furbank (c)
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Tom Litchfield
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 George Hendy
10 Fin Smith
9 Archie McParland – 50th Saints appearance

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Curtis Langdon
3 Elliot Millar Mills
4 Alex Coles
5 Ed Prowse
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Tom Pearson
8 Henry Pollock

Replacements:
16 Craig Wright
17 Danilo Fischetti
18 Luke Green
19 JJ Van Der Mescht
20 Tom Lockett
21 Callum Chick
22 Alex Mitchell
23 Fraser Dingwall

Not available for selection:
Trevor Davison, Henry Lumley, Freddie St John, Edoardo Todaro and Charlie Ulcoq.

Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant referees: Adam Leal and Anthony Woodthorpe
No.4: Luke Pearce
TMO: Ian Tempest