Tigers primed to show their teeth at Northampton

Northampton v Leicester
BT Sport 1, 3pm Saturday
Leinster v Cardiff
Sky Sports 2 & TG4, 3pm Saturday
Glasgow v Connacht
Sky Sports 2, 5.15pm Saturday

Six days after lifting the Anglo-Welsh Cup, Aaron Mauger takes charge of Leicester for a final time when they visit East Midlands rivals Northampton for a tasty televised Premiership clash.

And while the Tigers may not prevail against the Saints for a seventh time on the spin in all competitions, they warrant a wager with a four-point start.

The Leicester squad have certainly come together under Mauger with six wins in their last eight first-team matches. So much so that brilliant full-back Telusa Veainu was bemused enough by the board’s decision to bring in Matt O’Connor before the end of the season to comment on Twitter.

Veainu and a number of high-class backs and forwards will run out at Franklin’s Gardens keen to not only give Mauger a great send-off but to keep the pressure on Bath for the final playoff spot with five regular-season games left and try and to keep the Saints at arm’s length.

Northampton head coach Jim Mallinder has named all of his international big guns in a bid for a sixth straight home win in all competitions.

However, leaders Wasps, Bath and Newcastle have triumphed at the Gardens in the league and Exeter, Gloucester and bottom-of-the-table Bristol have lost by six points or fewer.

In the Pro12, Joey Carbery looks a big price to score a ninth try of the season for leaders Leinster at home to Cardiff.

Carbery, who starts at full-back, claimed two tries in Leinster’s 45-9 success over Scarlets at the RDS Arena three weeks ago, which was a fifth league win in a row by 29 points or more. The Blues tend to leak tries on the road but wins at Munster and Edinburgh this term could have lifted confidence.

Connacht have never won in Glasgow but the Pro12 champions look worth a wager with a start of ten points on this occasion.

The Galway gang have won their last four league matches and are canny coach Pat Lam is getting plenty of key players back from injury and the Six Nations.

The Warriors have lost three of their last four matches including a 26-14 Scotstoun reverse to Scarlets and Gregor Townsend continues to mix up his side.

Kiwi centre Kieron Fonotia is worth backing to score a try for Ospreys on their trip to Treviso (S4C, 7.35pm).

Fonotia has touched down five times since leaving New Zealand in November including three times in his last five outings.

The Ospreys have won 15 of their last 16 first-team matches and Treviso have lost their six league matches and conceded 109 points in their last three Pro12 outings at Stadio Monigo against Glasgow, Connacht and Leinster.

Clermont get an eight-point start from Racing 92 in the televised Top 14 game (Sky Sports 1, 1.45pm).

Recommendations
Leicester +4
1pt 10-11 Ladbrokes
J Carbery to score a try in Leinster v Cardiff
1pt 15-8 bet365
Connacht +10
1pt 10-11 Coral
K Fonotia to score a try in Treviso v Ospreys
1pt 7-5 bet365