Munga captains Saints in Cup opener against Leicester Tigers

Chunya Munga will lead Northampton Saints this Friday night (1 November, kick-off: 7.45pm), as the men in Black, Green and Gold take on Leicester Tigers in the first round of the Premiership Rugby Cup.

The 24-year-old captains Saints for the first time in his career, as Phil Dowson hands out six debuts within the matchday squad for the first East Midlands Derby at cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens this season.

Saints have not hosted Tigers in the Cup competition since the 2018/19 season, where a 47-20 victory over Leicester saw Northampton on their way to claiming the trophy at the close of that campaign – where they ran out 23-9 winners against Saracens in the Final at cinch Stadium to claim their first trophy in five years.

Amongst the starting line-up, there are debuts for Saints summer signing Fyn Brown in the back row, while guest player and Fijian rugby league convert Mitieli Vulikijapani starts on the wing for Northampton.

Tarek Haffar, Craig Wright and Luke Green form Saints’ front row for the Round 1 clash, with captain Munga and Gavin Thornbury behind them in Northampton’s engine room.

Debutant Brown starts at blindside flanker for Saints and is joined by Angus Scott-Young and Henry Pollock – who start at openside flanker and No. 8 respectively.

After an impressive first outing in Black, Green and Gold against Bristol Bears last weekend, George Makepeace-Cubitt starts at fly-half for Saints again this week – with England Under-20s teammate Archie McParland starting his second match of the season alongside him at scrum-half.

Charlie Savala starts in Northampton’s centres for the first time and partners Tom Litchfield there against Tigers, with Tom Seabrook joining debutant Vulikijapani on the wing and George Hendy completing the starting line-up at fullback.

And there could be more first appearances in Black, Green and Gold against Tigers as Nathan Langdon, Sonny Tonga’uiha, Will Spencer and Jonny Weimann are all primed to make their competitive debuts from amongst Northampton’s replacements.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs LEICESTER TIGERS

Premiership Rugby Cup, Round 1

Friday 1 November, 2024

Kick-off: 7.45pm

15 George Hendy

14 Mitieli Vulikijapani* – Saint #2097

13 Tom Litchfield

12 Charlie Savala

11 Tom Seabrook

10 George Makepeace-Cubitt

9 Archie McParland

1 Tarek Haffar

2 Craig Wright

3 Luke Green

4 Chunya Munga (c)

5 Gavin Thornbury

6 Fyn Brown – Saint #2096

7 Angus Scott-Young

8 Henry Pollock

Replacements:

16 Nathan Langdon – Northampton Saints debut

17 Emmanuel Iyogun

18 Sonny Tonga’uiha – Northampton Saints debut

19 Will Spencer – Northampton Saints debut

20 Josh Kemeny

21 Jonny Weimann – Northampton Saints debut

22 James Ramm

23 Ewan Baker

*denotes guest player

Not available for selection:

Juarno Augustus, Emeka Atuanya, Fraser Dingwall, Sam Graham, Tom Lockett, Alex Mitchell, Burger Odendaal, Toby Thame and Robbie Smith.

International duty:

Alex Coles, Trevor Davison, Tommy Freeman, George Furbank, Ollie Sleightholme and Fin Smith (all England).

Referee: Harry Walbaum

Assistant referee: Adam Leal and Calum Howard

No. 4: Neil Chivers

TMO: Peter Allan