FRIDAY PREVIEW: Despite a difficult couple of weeks, Northampton Saints will not be weighed down by the occasion against Clermont, according to centre Fraser Dingwall.

Dingwall will once again be captaining the men in black, green and gold in the absence of injured skipper George Furbank for the visit of Les Jaunards to cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens.

At stake is a place in the quarterfinals of the Champions Cup, with Saints being the only Premiership club to have a home tie in the last 16 of European rugby’s premier club competition.

Those stakes have been raised by recent defeats against Leicester Tigers and Sale Sharks, damaging the prospects of them having the chance to defend their Premiership title in this season’s play-offs.

Where Saints can draw inspiration from is their run to the semifinals of last year’s Champions Cup, which included a memorable win over Munster at the Gardens at the same stage in which they are competing on Friday.

Dingwall, however, insists the build-up has been business as usual, saying: “We haven’t really touched on the fact that it’s a huge game all that much because everyone’s aware that a European knock-out is always big.

“We haven’t actually tried to push that hard [on how big the game is], it’s more around how excited we can be for the opportunity we’ve got.

“We worked really hard in the group stages to give ourselves the opportunity to have a last-16 tie at home so to then play Clermont, who we haven’t played for a number of years.

“It will be the first time a lot of the lads have played against those guys, just sets itself up to be a really cool, exciting prospect.

“That hopefully drives a lot of the mental side of it to get a good performance out there.”

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Friday represents the second time this season a side from the French Top 14 has visited the Gardens, with Castres seen off 38-8 in the first match of Saints’ European campaign back in December.

Clermont are fighting on two fronts, with them currently lying sixth in their league, which is the last position in which a team can qualify for the Top 14’s end-of-season play-offs.

When asked what it’s like to welcome French opposition, Dingwall said:

“There’s the unknown part because you haven’t played against a lot of the players, and then it tends to be two contrasting styles, just because of the way the leagues operate.

“We’re expecting them to be very physical and then move the ball to their very talented backs.

“Our game probably operates a lot more around linking the whole thing together as a team so it can be quite contrasting.

Friday’s match is the 10th occasion in which Saints have faced Clermont, and they would dearly love to add to the solitary win they have recorded over them in January 2018.

Dingwall played them twice the following year in the European Challenge Cup, including a breathless quarterfinal that saw Clermont run out 61-38 winners at the atmospheric Stade Marcel-Michelin.

“I’ve played them out there at their stadium, which was very fun,” Dingwall said.

“It was a very high-scoring game from memory, but they had a lot of talent within their backs and back row at the time, much like they do now.

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There are a few changes to the Clermont XV and the Clermont squad after the victory against La Rochelle, with only Alex Newsome and Giorgi Akhaladze included in the team that will face the Saints.

This is the foundation of the team that won against La Rochelle, who will play their Champions Cup Round of 16 match on Friday in Northampton.

Kylan Hamdaoui’s injury effectively repositions Alex Newsome, who was rested last week, to his fullback position, where he makes his 18th start of the season.

Etienne Falgoux, who has been a starter in the last three matches and has been in high demand since the start of the year, swaps with Giorgi Akhaladze for the second and final change to the starting XV.

On the bench, Alexandre Fischer, who injured his shoulder the previous week against Racing 92, is back in the squad as part of an experienced bench.

Pita-Gus Sowakula’s first appearance in a Champions Cup match will be notable.

Injured during the qualifying rounds, the All Black flanker, like last week, is partnered with Fritz Lee and Killan Tixeront in a perfectly balanced back row.

At the back, George Moala is back after a tremendous performance against the Maritimes.

The Clermont center will be facing Irae Simone for only the second time this season.

The Clermont squad will travel with a few additional players, including the return of injured Lucas Tauzin, Léon Darricarrère and Lucas Dessaigne.

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Northampton Saints v Clermont

(Franklin’s Gardens, Northampton – Kick-off: 20.00; 21.00 French time; 19.00 GMT)

Prediction 

@rugby365com: Northampton Saints by eight points

Teams

Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Burger Odendaal, 12 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 8 Juarno Augustus, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Alex Coles, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 3 Trevor Davison, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Tom West, 18 Luke Green, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom Pearson, 22 Tom James, 23 Rory Hutchinson

Clermont: 15 Alex Newsome, 14 Bautista Delguy, 13 Irae Simone, 12 George Moala, 11 Alivereti Raka, 10 Anthony Belleau, 9 Sebastien Bezy, 8 Fritz Lee (captain), 7 Killian Tixeront, 6 Pita-Gus Sowakula, 5 Thomas Ceyte, 4 Rob Simmons, 3 Cristian Ojovan, 2 Barnabe Massa, 1 Giorgi Akhaladze.
Replacements: 16 Folau Fainga’a, 17 Etienne Falgoux, 18 Michael Ala’alatoa, 19 Anthime Hemery, 20 Alexandre Fischer, 21 Jules Bousquet, 22 Ben Urdapilleta, 23 Pierre Fouyssac

Referee: Andrew Brace (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Andrew Cole (Australia) Padraic Reidy (Ireland)
TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)