Chris Ashton: One to watch for Saints

This game is a cracker to start the season off and hopefully these new laws will allow the likes of Worcester's Benjamin and Northamptons's Ashton to get the ball more often.

Dewi Morris
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Northampton v Leicester
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Teams

• Northampton
• Worcester

It's great to have Northampton back in the Premiership.

They have only themselves to blame for being relegated in the first place as they did not play particularly well, but this will be a big season for them.

Northampton is a fantastic rugby town and Franklin's Gardens will be packed to the rafters.

Carlos Spencer anchoring the team at 10 will be very important and he should really enjoy the new ELV's as it should quicken the game up and he loves that.

I'm really looking forward to seeing Chris Ashton in the top flight too, he scored 39 tries in the first division and it will be great to see what he can do at a higher level.

Can the Northampton forwards give him the ball in the right part of the pitch? Well, the two Ulster boys - Neil Best and Roger Wilson - are big, strong lads and will certainly add something to the Saints back row.

I am also looking forward to seeing Ben Foden playing No.9. He was playing fullback at Sale but really wants to give the scrum-half position a go and he certainly has the skills for it.

On the Worcester side, well they were certainly playing some great rugby towards the end of last season and I expect them to carry on in that vein. They have signed a certain Chris Latham at 15, who is an outstanding player.

He is struggling a little bit with fitness, but he is full of class and his kicking abilities will be vital. Put him in the back three with Miles Benjamin and Marcel Garvey and you have some pretty impressive firepower.

In the centre Sam Tuitupou is going to be strong as ever and he should form a great partnership with Hal Luscombe who is no slouch himself.

This game is a cracker to start the season off and hopefully these new laws will allow the likes of Worcester's Benjamin and Northampton's Ashton to get the ball more often.

The area to watch will be the ruck area as the aim is to get the ball back as quickly as possible rather than seal it off - hopefully they will then put a bit of width on the ball to release some of their speedsters.

Both sides will know how important it is to get off to a good start and it's going to be fascinating to see who adapts to the new rules quicker.

There is no easy game in the Premiership. We probably saw the best season ever last year with defences really going for it, more tries were scored and more people coming to watch.

Northampton would have been back into pre-season training a few weeks after the last season stopped. They are professional now and it is a big test for the likes of Jim Mallinder and Dorian West.

Saints have been here before, but the game moves on every year - it's faster and the players are bigger and stronger.

The big thing going for Saints is that this game is at home and they will be cheered on by the ever-present Franklin's Gardens faithful.

However if I had to call it and I put a pound of Barnsey's hard earned money on the result, I would go for a Worcester win.

I just feel that they are starting to gel under Mike Ruddock. They have a bruising pack and some crafty backline players - a mixture of guile and pace.