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Preview: Leicester Tigers vs. Northampton Saints

Preview: Leicester vs. Northampton
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Sports Mole previews Saturday's Aviva Premiership final between Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints at Twickenham Stadium.

The Aviva Premiership season comes to a close on Saturday as Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints face off at Twickenham Stadium for the right to be crowned champions of England.

The Tigers are in the final for a ninth consecutive time, while the Saints are taking part in their first ever match of this type.

Despite Leicester having such a strong pedigree in reaching the last game of the campaign, they have only won the title on three of those occasions.

They were beaten in last year's encounter with Harlequins, but they managed to exact some revenge with a 33-16 victory over their rivals in the semi-finals this time around. Meanwhile, Northampton caused a major upset in their last-four tie as they ran out 27-13 winners at heavy favourites Saracens.

However, Leicester will be expected to clinch the championship on Saturday having beat their opponents twice in the regular season.

Richard Cockerill has made one change to his squad as Ed Slater replaces Thomas Waldrom on the bench.

Northampton coach Jim Mallinder has also made a solitary swap, with Phil Dowson coming in for Calum Clark in the starting XV.

Recent form

Leicester: WLWLWW

Northampton: WLWWLW

Lineups

Leicester: Tait, Morris, Tuilagi, Allen, Goneva, Flood, B Youngs, Mulipola, T Youngs, Cole, Kitchener, Parling, Croft, Salvi, Crane
Replacements: Hawkins, Balmain, Castrogiovanni, Slater, Mafi, Harrison, Ford, Smith

Northampton: Foden, K Pisi, Wilson, Burrell, Elliott, Myler, Dickson, Tonga'uiha, Hartley, Mujati, Lawes, Day, Dowson, Wood, Manoa
Replacements: Haywood, Waller, Mercey, Nutley, Van Velze, Roberts, Lamb, G Pisi

Sports Mole says: Leicester to win the title


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Leicester Tigers head coach Richard Cockerill during the match against Benetton Treviso on December 9, 2012
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