Saints boosted by return of Smith and Mitchell

Fin Smith running with the ball in his hands against Saracens in March

Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption,

Fin Smith was concussed during Northampton's victory over Saracens at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 28 March

Published56 minutes ago

Bath and Northampton have both made six changes to their starting XVs as the Prem's top two sides meet in Friday's Champions Cup quarter-final at the Rec.

England fly-half Fin Smith returns from concussion to start for the Saints, while scrum-half Alex Mitchell is named on the bench after recovering from the hamstring injury that ended his Six Nations prematurely.

Archie McParland takes the number nine shirt alongside Smith, while Rory Hutchinson comes in to partner Fraser Dingwall in the midfield.

Curtis Langdon and Cleopas Kundiona feature in the front row, and Tom Pearson comes in at open-side flanker to team up with Josh Kemeny and Henry Pollock in the back row.

George Hendy also returns from injury to take his place on the bench.

George Furbank, whose move to Harlequins at the end of the season was confirmed on Wednesday, leads the side from full-back.

Sam Underhill and Miles Reid start in the Bath back row alongside Guy Pepper, with Josh Bayliss dropping out of the matchday 23 and Alfie Barbeary moving to the bench.

Billy Sela comes into Bath's front row and Cameron Redpath takes over from Max Ojomoh in the centres.

Henry Arundell shifts to the right wing as Will Muir replaces Joe Cokanasiga in the starting line-up, while Tom de Glanville takes over at full-back with Santi Carreras named as a replacement.

Bath have a 6-2 split on the bench with forwards Kepu Tuipulotu, Francois van Wyk, Thomas du Toit, Ross Molony, Ted Hill and Barbeary able to bring considerable power to the game.

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Tommy Freeman scored a hat-trick of tries as Saints beat Bath 41-21 in their most recent meeting in the Prem in December.

"We took quite a bit of learning a few months ago when we played Northampton here," said Bath head coach Johann van Graan.

Northampton head coach Phil Dowson said: "It's a completely different game and psychological remit, but we'll try to replicate the things that went well that day."

Saints are bidding to reach back-to-back finals after finishing runners-up to Bordeaux last season, but Bath, who won the Challenge Cup last year, are playing in the last eight for the first time in 11 years.

Northampton reached the last eight thanks to a thrilling 49-41 victory over Castres last Friday, while Bath overcame Saracens 31-22.

The winning side will face cup holders Bordeaux or six-time champions Toulouse in the semi-finals on the weekend of 2-3 May, with the final taking place in Bilbao on 23 May.

Investec Champions Cup quarter-finals

Bath v Northampton

Friday, 10 April, 20:00 BST kick-off

The Rec

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Line-ups

Bath: De Glanville; Arundell, Lawrence, Redpath, Muir; Russell, Spencer (capt); Obano, Dunn, Sela, Roux, Ewels, Pepper, Underhill, Reid.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Van Wyk, Du Toit, Molony, Hill, Van der Linde, Carreras, Barbeary.

Northampton: Furbank (capt); Freeman, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Sleightholme; Smith, McParland; Fischetti, Langdon, Kundiona, Lockett, Van der Mescht, Kemeny, Pearson, Pollock.

Replacements: Wright, Iyogun, Millar-Mills, Prowse, Chick, Mitchell, Litchfield, Hendy.