Northampton Saints

Northampton Saints beat Wasps 52-30 at Franklin's Gardens in a game which saw the visitor's Nathan Hughes sent off for kneeing Saints' winger George North in the head.

We have now passed the halfway mark in our look at the academies of the Aviva Premiership and pick up with London Welsh, Newcastle Falcons and Northampton Saints.

Northampton Saints full-back Tom Collins insists he is already relishing the chance to follow in the footsteps of some extremely successful predecessors after being named the LV= 2014/15 Breakthrough Player of the Year.

Kyle Sinckler will miss Harlequins' clash against London Irish at the weekend after being handed a one-week ban.

Champions Northampton moved 13 points clear at the top of the Aviva Premiership with a victory which surely ends Harlequins' hopes of reaching the top four.

Lock Michael Paterson will join Northampton from Sale Sharks this summer as the Saints bid to offset the loss of Toulon-bound Samu Manoa.

Championship club Worcester have announced the signing of England international back-row forward Phil Dowson from Aviva Premiership champions Northampton.

Four English clubs have booked places in this season's European Champions Cup quarter-finals - but all of them will be away from home.

Northampton have been dealt a major injury blow with their England international full-back Ben Foden set to miss the rest of this season.

England have been dealt another major second-row injury blow ahead of their forthcoming RBS 6 Nations campaign.

Aviva Premiership champions Northampton have announced the signing of England prop Kieran Brookes.

Northampton head coach Jim Mallinder has criticised his side's defence after they conceded four tries in their 39-31 Aviva Premiership win over Newcastle at Franklin's Gardens.

Fly-half Stephen Myler passed 2,000 points for Northampton as they beat Newcastle 39-31 to claim a bonus-point win in Friday's Aviva Premiership clash at Franklin's Gardens.

Newcastle Falcon captain Will Welch is happy with his team's form as they prepare to take on table-topping Northampton Saints tomorrow (Friday).

Wasps' recent improvement continued with a win over Gloucester while there were also post-Christmas Aviva Premiership wins for London Irish, Bath, Leicester, Saracens and Northampton.

England and Northampton hooker Dylan Hartley is likely to learn the outcome of his latest disciplinary hearing before Christmas.

George North believes Wales' overseas-based stars are "relieved" by the fall-back option provided by the new dual-contract system.

England forwards Dylan Hartley and Courtney Lawes have both signed new contracts with Aviva Premiership champions Northampton.

There’s sure to be a lot of well-groomed whiskers on display at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday (KO 2:30pm) as first takes on second in the Aviva Premiership Rugby Network Challenge table.

Northampton centre Luther Burrell may be ruled out of England's autumn internationals after picking up a hand injury during his side's European Champions Cup victory over the Ospreys.