The Saints will be sending a team to Goldington Road for a mid-season friendly against Bedford Blues on Friday, March 17th (KO 7:45pm).
Bedford had been due to play London Welsh in the Championship that weekend, but with the Exiles having been excluded from the competition the Blues’ management contacted their counterparts at Franklin’s Gardens to explore setting up a fixture to fill the gap, something director of rugby Jim Mallinder agreed to straight away.
With the Saints having narrowly missed out on the Anglo-Welsh Cup knockout stages the weekend of March 17-19 would not have had a first team fixture, and with some big Aviva Premiership games in the following weeks Mallinder says that the short trip down the A428 will provide useful game time for the squad.
“The unfortunate circumstances surrounding London Welsh have had a significant knock-on effect for clubs like Bedford and we were happy to step in to help the Blues out,” he said. “With no match ourselves that weekend we will be using it as an opportunity to give our squad some game time ahead of our important Aviva Premiership run-in.”
This will be the Saints’ first trip to Goldington Road since August 2013, when they ran out 45-21 victors from that pre-season clash.
For ticket information head to www.bedfordrugby.co.uk
