Saracens

Ground: Franklins Gardens, Weedon Road, Northampton, NN5 5BG

Capacity: 12,500

Switchboard: T:01604 599 110 F: 01604 751 543

Coaches: Paul Grayson, Budge Pountney

Website: http://www.northamptonsaints.co.uk

Captain: Bruce Reihana

Ones to watch: Carlos Spencer, Sean Lamont

Club mascot: Bernie the St Bernard

Directions:

By Road: Leave the M1 at Junction 15A and follow signs for Sixfields. Go past the Sixfields Stadium on your right and turn right at the major roundabout towards the town centre. Follow signs to the Saint car park.

By Rail: Turn right out of the stadium, follow the road past the Thomas A Beckett pub, bus station and pub. Franklin's Gardens is half a mile from the station, on the left.

Review
With a backline containing the likes of Carlos Spencer, Mark Robinson and Bruce Reihana, the Saints were always going to be an attacking threat in the 2005/06 season, but it wasn't until the second half of the campaign that it began to bear fruit.

The Saints finished sixth overall, a big improvement on their 11th place the previous season and it was in no small part to the contribution of Spencer who earned rave reviews in his first season in the Premiership.

However, Northampton made a dreadful start to the season and managed to pick up just two wins in their opening 10 league matches. Early in the New Year they put together some form with four wins and a draw in six matches during January and February.

They secured their Premiership status and moved up the table with another good run when they picked up four wins in five matches including three on the bounce to finish the season with a Heineken Cup place.

They topped their group in the European Challenge Cup but failed to take advantage of home advantage in the quarter finals, going out 25-34 at Franklin's Gardens to Worcester Warriors.
They failed to make it out of group stages of the Powergen Cup, despite wins in their opening two matches against Worcester and the Gwent Dragons, because of a defeat at Welford Road against the Tigers.

Ben Cohen ended the season as top try scorer with seven and has now topped the Saints try scoring list in six of the last seven seasons. Scottish International wing Sean Lamont equalled the club record for tries in a match with four in the home win over Saracens in February.