An East Midlands Derby is, for Northampton Saints supporters and players alike, always one of the first fixtures to look forward to on the calendar, and Tom Litchfield insists that this evening’s encounter is no different.
While Friday’s clash takes place in the PREM Rugby Cup, the 23-year-old centre knows that the old rivalry will be just as present when Saints make the short trip north to close out the first block of Cup matches.
But Northampton are without a win in Leicester since 2023 – when George Furbank captained Saints to a narrow 18-19 victory from the No. 10 shirt – and Litchfield knows just what challenge awaits them at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
Litchfield said: “We’d like a win to finish off the PREM Cup block and to kick-start us going back into the PREM so it’s a massive game for us.
“This is obviously a big game against Leicester so we’re looking forward to righting some wrongs from last week.
“We always relish the opportunity to go to Welford Road and any game against Leicester.
“Everyone is really looking forward to it.”
Northampton have been without their international players for the last four weeks, with the Quilter Nations Cup seeing the involvement of some ten Saints across three countries throughout the tournament.
That has allowed a group of the Club’s younger stars to make the step up into senior rugby, a path trodden by Litchfield in recent seasons – who now has over half a century of Saints appearances to his name despite still being one of the younger members of the squad.
He said: “We always like to think that whoever you put on, in whatever position, can get the job done. We couldn’t quite do that against Newcastle but there’s lots of logistical changes in the last few weeks, especially in the back line.
“That has left people in positions they’re not too familiar with, different changes in leadership and stuff like that. That’s all good experience.”
While Litchfield has proved a versatile addition to Saints’ backline featuring across the centre and wing so far, the Saints Academy graduate will man his more regular position in the midfield at Welford Road on Friday.
It is a position where Saints have been spoilt for riches in recent seasons and Litchfield admits he has enjoyed watching his fellow Saints centres excelling on the integrational stage – with Rory Hutchinson donning a Scotland jersey over the Autumn and Fraser Dingwall becoming a regular feature in England’s centres, scoring a try in their 33-19 victory over the All Blacks last weekend.
“I didn’t catch any of the New Zealand game live because we had our game here; but from what I’ve seen since, all the boys did really well,” Litchfield said.
“I’ve seen clips of Dingers scoring and it’s really great to see those boys performing.
“It’s great because we always talk about if we perform well as a club, we get recognition on international stages, so it’s really nice to see all those boys playing a lot of minutes for England.”