| Casualty list puts Bath on back foot • Game at Northampton will feature 10 England internationals• Both sides keen to preserve 100% Premiership recordLeague titles are not won in September but the Aviva Premiership's most significant game so far takes place at Franklin's Gardens tomorrow night . The Saints and their visitors Bath both have 100% records and a resounding victory for either club will install them as early pace-setters. With both sides committed to spreading the ball and playing at pace, it has all the ingredients of a genuine humdinger.Only the fistful of injuries which Bath collected against London Irish last Saturday have dampened the sense of anticipation. Their international quartet of Matt Banahan, Simon Taylor, Lee Mears and David Flatman are all missing, with Tom Biggs, Andy Beattie, Pieter Dixon and David Barnes taking their places. Interestingly, the scrum-half Michael Claassens has also been named on the bench with Mark McMillan making his first start for his new club.Northampton, in contrast, have wheeled out the same starting line-up they chose for the Harlequins fixture last weekend, with Shane Geraghty retained at fly-half. There will be 10 England internationals on the field when the game kicks off and the youngest of them, the Saints lock Courtney Lawes, is keen to measure himself against the more battle-scarred Danny Grewcock. "It'll show us how far we've come as a team and how mature we are as a side," says Lawes. "I'm looking forward to it, though I'm not about to start running headlong into Grewcock. I'd rather run round him."The Saints have never previously started a Premiership campaign with three successive wins, a feat Bath last achieved seven years ago. Northampton, beaten only by Saracens at home last season, are also spurred on by their supporters' intense desire for silverware. "There's quite a lot of pressure to perform for the crowd when you're playing at the Gardens," admits Lawes."It definitely helps us win a lot of games. This season there's no one team which stands out above anyone else so it's anyone's league for the taking. Bath have started well but we'll see who's on top at the end of it."The visitors, meanwhile, have boosted their second-row resources by signing the Argentine lock Ignacio Fernández-Lobbe and the US Eagles captain John van der Giessen, 28, on an initial short-term contract.Sale have consigned England's Andrew Sheridan to the bench and opted to change four of their front five forwards for their home game against Harlequins. Quins, one of three clubs yet to register a Premiership win this season, have switched their international no 8 Nick Easter to the second-row. Tom Guest is promoted to the back-row with the former Leicester centre Ollie Smith making his first Quins start. The promising George Lowe moves to the wing in place of Ugo Monye, who has a toe injury.PremiershipNorthampton SaintsBathRugby unionRobert Kitsonguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
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