{"id":583801,"date":"2026-05-14T15:34:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:34:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/583801\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T15:34:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T15:34:14","slug":"six-changes-for-saints-ahead-of-bristol-bears-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/583801\/","title":{"rendered":"Six changes for Saints ahead of Bristol Bears clash"},"content":{"rendered":"

BUY TICKETS<\/a><\/p>\n

Phil Dowson rings the changes to his Northampton Saints side as the Gallagher PREM table-toppers prepare to take on Bristol Bears in Round 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The men in Black, Green and Gold head into Friday\u2019s clash under the lights without having lost a league match at cinch Stadium at Franklin\u2019s Gardens in over 12 months, sitting four points clear top of the league pile.<\/p>\n

Results have gone the way of the home side in the last four meetings of Saints and Bristol in the PREM, with the sides\u2019 meeting earlier this season ending in a 46-12 win for Bears at Ashton Gate.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dowson makes six changes to his Saints side ahead of Bristol\u2019s visit, bringing Elliot Millar Mills, Alex Coles, Ed Prowse, Henry Pollock, Archie McParland and Tom Litchfield into his starting line-up on Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Scotland\u2019s Millar Mills slots in at tighthead prop this week, joining loosehead prop Emmanuel Iyogun and hooker and fellow Scotland international Robbie Smith in the front row.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A fresh-look second row sees Coles make his return from injury against Bears as he partners Prowse in the engine room. Meanwhile, Pollock provides the only change to Saints\u2019 back row, linking up with flanker Josh Kemeny and No. 8 Callum Chick there in Round 16.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McParland is set to make his 13th start of the term at scrum-half as he joins Fin Smith \u2013 who was announced both the league and club Player of the Month awards for April this week \u2013 in the half-back berths.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saints remain unchanged in the back three, naming wingers George Hendy and Tommy Freeman \u2013 who both crossed in last week\u2019s match at Leicester Tigers. Finally, George Furbank completes Northampton\u2019s starting line-up as he captains the side from fullback.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dowson opts for a six-two bench against Bristol, with the likes of Danilo Fischetti, JJ Van Der Mescht and Sam Graham named there \u2013 while Tom Pearson is set to make his return from injury, and England duo Alex Mitchell and Fraser Dingwall provide Saints\u2019 backs cover.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Limited tickets for Friday night\u2019s clash under the lights are still available \u2013 from \u00a325 adult \/ \u00a39 child* HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS vs BRISTOL BEARS
Gallagher PREM, Round 16
Friday 15 May, 2026
cinch Stadium at Franklin\u2019s Gardens
Kick-off: 7.45pm<\/p>\n

15 George Furbank (c)
14 Tommy Freeman
13 Tom Litchfield
12 Rory Hutchinson
11 George Hendy
10 Fin Smith
9 Archie McParland<\/p>\n

1 Emmanuel Iyogun
2 Robbie Smith
3 Elliot Millar Mills
4 Alex Coles
5 Ed Prowse
6 Josh Kemeny
7 Henry Pollock
8 Callum Chick<\/p>\n

Replacements:
16 Henry Walker
17 Danilo Fischetti
18 Luke Green
19 JJ Van Der Mescht
20 Tom Pearson
21 Sam Graham
22 Alex Mitchell
23 Fraser Dingwall<\/p>\n

Not available for selection:
Trevor Davison, Tom James, Cleopas Kundiona, Curtis Langdon, Tom Lockett, Henry Lumley, James Ramm, Freddie St John, Edoardo Todaro and Charlie Ulcoq.<\/p>\n

BRISTOL TEAM TO FACE SAINTS:
15 Rich Lane, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 12 James Williams, 11 Kalaveti Ravouvou, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 Harry Randall; 1 Ellis Genge, 2 Harry Thacker, 3 George Kloska, 4 James Dun, 5 Joe Batley, 6 Joe Owen, 7 Fitz Harding (c), 8 Santiago Grondona.
Replacements: 16 Tomas Gwilliam, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 George Taylor, 20 Luka Ivanishvili, 21 Kieran Marmion, 22 Matias Moroni, 23 Noah Heward.<\/p>\n

Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Sara Cox and John Meredith
No. 4: Veryan Boscawen
TMO: David Rose<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BUY TICKETS Phil Dowson rings the changes to his Northampton Saints side as the Gallagher PREM table-toppers prepare…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":583802,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[5903,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-583801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-rugby","tag-rugby","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=583801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/583801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/583802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=583801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=583801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=583801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}