Also returning in the starting XV is Bruce Reihana who missed the London Irish game due to a family bereavement. David Gerard has moved up from the bench in the place of Matt Lord too and Academy No 8 Mark Easter will start in place of injured Daniel Browne.

On the bench, Paul Diggin also returns to Premiership action following a knee injury and Ben Jones has been called up in the place of scrum-half Johnny Howard, who has suffered a pectoral strain.

Prolific kicker Pritchard said: “This is a very big game for me this weekend and I am over the moon to get a start especially coming up against Gloucester who are third in the league at the moment. When Grase (Paul Grayson) read out my name, I was quite ecstatic.”

Pritchard, Australian-born but who played for Canada in Rugby World Cup 2003, made his debut for Saints against London Irish two weeks ago: “I have done a bit of travelling over the years. I spent six months in France with Perpignan and before that I spent some time down south with Plymouth and two years at Bedford.

“The London Irish game was not the best game but we have got to put that out of our minds. We were disappointed with ourselves but all credit to the way London Irish played. However, we were more disappointed with the game we played but now we must concentrate on Gloucester.”

Northampton Saints

15 JAMES PRTICHARD
14 John Rudd
13 Jon Clarke
12 DAVID QUINLAN
11 BRUCE REIHANA (capt)
10 CARLOS SPENCER
9 MARK ROBINSON
1 TOM SMITH
2 Dan Richmond
3 Pat Barnard
4 Damien Browne
5 DAVID GERARD
6 PAUL TUPAI
7 SAM HARDING
8 Mark Easter

16 Chris Budgen
17 Simon Emms
18 Matt Lord
19 Darren Fox
20 Ben Jones
21 Paul Diggin
22 Robbie Kydd