The Northampton Saints team goes into tomorrow’s Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 22 clash against Leeds Carnegie determined to avoid a Heineken hangover, according to director of rugby Jim Mallinder.

The Saints may have a place in the 2011 Heineken Cup final, but an Aviva Premiership Rugby play-off spot is far from certain. With Bath snapping at their heels in the chase for fourth place, the Saints need a positive result against Leeds if they are to progress into the post-season.

“It’s a massive game for us tomorrow,” Mallinder said today. “At the moment we still have things in our own hands, but the only way it will stay like that is if we get a positive result against Leeds.

“The players all know that and it hasn’t been difficult to motivate them in training this week. We enjoyed the win over Perpignan, but when we came back to work this week all of the attention was focused on what we need to do to beat Leeds.

“They caused us plenty of problems when we played them at Headingley in March, and we know that they will be fighting for every point themselves. Our recent game at Kingston Park showed how difficult it can be to play a team in that position and we are prepared for a battle right from the first whistle.”

Tickets for the game, which is this season’s finale at Franklin’s Gardens, are still available now from the Saints Ticket Office.

NORTHAMPTON SAINTS TEAM TO PLAY LEEDS CARNEGIE

Aviva Premiership Rugby Round 22

Franklin’s Gardens

Saturday, May 7th, 2011

Kick off 3:00pm

15 Ben Foden

14 Chris Ashton

13 Joe Ansbro

12 James Downey

11 Paul Diggin

10 Shane Geraghty

9 Stuart Commins

1 Alex Waller

2 Brett Sharman

3 Brian Mujati

4 Mark Sorenson

5 Christian Day

6 Mark Easter

7 Phil Dowson (capt)

8 Roger Wilson

Replacements

16 Dylan Hartley

17 Soane Tonga’uiha

18 Tom Mercey

19 Courtney Lawes

20 Calum Clark

21 Lee Dickson

22 Stephen Myler

23 Bruce Reihana