Saints drop two South Africans

Northampton Saints have made three changes to their starting XV for their Pool 3 match against Glasgow at Franklin's Gardens on Friday night.

Out go wing Wylie Human and flank Corné Krige. Human is replaced by Mark Tucker who came on as a substitute against the Scarlets when Human was floundering on defence. Krige is replaced by hard Darren Fox and goes to the bench.

Chris Budgen, who went off injured against the Scarlets, is replaced by Brett Sturgess who took his place off the bench. Icon Tom Smith comes onto the bench in Sturgess's place.

Andy Vilk comes onto the bench in the spot now vacated by Tucker.

It is an important match for the Saints who are handily placed in second spot behind Toulouse, the second-placed team with the best points so far. They will be flat out to get five points against Glasgow who have not had a win and are rock bottom with just two bonus points. One of those bonus points was when the Saints beat them 13-9 in Glasgow in Round 1.

Kenny Logan comes back into the side after a four-week lay-off, following his head injury against the Scarlets and then neck strain.

Two other changes have been made in the XV who started against Toulouse. Graeme Beveridge and Andrew Kelly also return, though both played as replacements against Toulouse last Friday.

Beveridge resumes as starting scrum half as Sam Pinder had groin surgery earlier this week. Because of Pinders operation, Beveridge is the only scrum half in the travelling squad.

Kelly will be at tighthead in place of Lee Harrison, who injured a knee in the match against Toulouse. Ben Prescott of Aberdeen GSFP comes onto the bench.

Teams:

Northampton Saints:  15 Bruce Reihana, 14 John Rudd, 13 Ben Cohen, 12 Marc Stcherbina, 11 Mark Tucker, 10 Paul Grayson, 9 Johnny Howard, 8 Mark Soden, 7 Darren Fox, 6 Andrew Blowers, 5 Matt Lord, 4 Grant Seely, 3 Robbie Morris, 2 Steve Thompson (captain), 1 Brett Sturgess
Replacements: 16 Dan Richmond, 17 Tom Smith, 18 Damien Browne, 19 Corné Krige, 20 Ben Jones, 21 Shane Drahm, 22 Andy Vilk

Glasgow: 15 Calvin Howarth, 14 Sean Lamont, 13 Andy Craig, 12 Graeme Morrison, 11 Kenny Logan, 10 Daniel Parks, 9 Graeme Beveridge, 8 Jon Petrie (captain),  7 Andrew Wilson,  6 Cameron Mather,5 Dan Turner, 4 Joe Beardshaw, 3 Andrew Kelly, 2 Gordon Bulloch, 1 Kevin Tkachuk
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Ben Prescott, 18 Paul Dearlove, 19 John Beattie, 20 Gareth MacLure, 21 Andrew Henderson, 22 David Millard

Date: Friday, 14 January 2005
Kick-off: 19.30
Venue: Franklin's Gardens
Expected weather conditions: Sunny with a temperature dropping from 6°C  to a low of 1°C  and a wind of 17 km/h
Referee: Nigel Whitehouse (Wales)
Touch judges: Huw Lewis, Tim Hayes (both Wales)
Match commissioner: Brian Campsall (England)
Assessor: Fred Farndon