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The Prem team news: Len Ikitau returns for Exeter and Bath make sweeping changes

Northampton host Bath in a top-of-the-table clash and their third meeting this season, with both sides having one win each so far (Saints in the Prem, Bath in the Champions Cup).

Just a point separates the sides at the moment and Phil Dowson has made three tweaks to his team, with Tommy Freeman returning to the wing alongside Ollie Sleightholme as George Furbank misses out through concussion protocols.

Prop Luke Green returns from injury while Henry Pollock steps up from the bench to the back row.

With a Champions Cup semi-final away to Bordeaux on 3 May looming, Bath have, by contrast, made 13 changes for their trip to Franklin’s Gardens with almost all of their first-choice players rested.

Fly-half Ciaran Donoghue makes a first appearance of the season having recovered from a long-term knee injury, while teenage full-back Sam Winters is in line for his Prem debut among those on the bench.

Northampton: Hendy; Freeman, Litchfield, Dingwall (c), Sleightholme; F Smith, Mitchell; Iyogun, Wright, Green; Lockett, Prowse, Kemeny, Graham, Pollock.

Replacements: R Smith, Fischetti, Kundiona, Van der Mescht, Munga, Chick, McParland, Hutchinson.

Bath: De Glanville; Hennessey, Harris, Butt, Muir; Donoghue, Van der Linde; Kirk, Frost, Verden; Richards, Molony, Bayliss, Reid (c), Green.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Van Wyk, Griffin, Opoku-Gyamfu, Hill, Carr-Smith, Winters, Underhill.

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