Injured duo back for Tigers as Saints stars return

Fly-half Billy Searle and England international Freddie Steward return from injury to start for Leicester Tigers in their Prem semi-final against East Midlands rivals Northampton Saints.

Searle, who last featured for Tigers in April's defeat by Saracens, comes in to replace the versatile James O'Connor with the Australian dropping out of the squad.

Steward replaces George Pearson, the 20-year-old that deputised at full-back in the back-to-back defeats by Exeter Chiefs and Bath, while winger Ollie Hassell-Collins also slots back into the starting side after missing out a week earlier.

Northampton, meanwhile, have largely reverted back to the starting XV that overcame Gloucester last month, having named a much-changed side for their inconsequential final-day defeat at Harlequins last week.

As expected, captain and full-back George Furbank will start in his final home game for Saints as he looks to set up a "fairytale" farewell with a Prem Grand Final appearance before leaving for Harlequins.

Prop Emmanuel Iyogun is among the host of other players to flood back into the starting side for Saints, and will be making his 100th appearance for the club in the elimination tie.

Friday night's semi-final between the table-topping Saints and fourth-placed Tigers at cinch Stadium at Franklin's Gardens comes just four weeks on from Leicester's thumping 41-17 win over Northampton at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.

It was a fiery affair in which five players were sin-binned, with each of them – Saints' Josh Kemeny, Callum Chick and Craig Wright, as well as Tigers pair Joe Heyes and Charlie Clare – all set to be involved again.

Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson said that defeat by Tigers, as well as the 138 years of history behind the rivalry, has enhanced the already high-stakes "narrative" of the semi-final.

"It is great for the game to have a match of this magnitude to be a derby," Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton.

"With what's happened recently and over the years with Leicester, I think it's a great narrative. We have to make sure we don't get too caught up with that as a playing group, but for the fans and media to get behind that, it's a fairly positive thing."

Dowson went on to say that Saints "learned a lot" from that recent defeat by Tigers, but added his side are "not scarred too much by the memory of it".

"We are playing this game, and not that one," he said.

Leicester head coach Geoff Parling said Tigers will be "excited" for the derby showdown and readily that the rivalry always brings an "emotion edge", but insisted that his side has prepared as normal.

"The group are in a great spot, we won't do much different to what we normally do," he told BBC East Midlands Today.

Northampton Saints: Furbank; Freeman, Litchfield, Hutchinson, Hendy; Smith, McParland; Iyogun, Langdon, Millar Mills; Coles, Prowse, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock.

Replacements: Wright, Fischetti, Green, Van Der Mescht, Lockett, Chick, Weimann, Dingwall.

Leicester Tigers: Steward; Radwan, Wand, Bailey, Hassell-Collins; Searle, Van Poortvliet; Smith, Blamire, Heyes; Martin, Chessum, Liebenberg, Reffell, Moro.

Replacements: Clare, Van der Flier, Hurd, Henderson, Cracknell, Whiteley, Kata, Perese.