Opta stats preview for Northampton trip
* Northampton Saints have lost their last three Premiership home matches against Newcastle Falcons after winning their previous six in a row, however, all three of those losses came by margins of six points or less.
* Newcastle Falcons’ Sean Robinson has stolen more opposition lineouts than any other player in this season’s Premiership (10); Robinson also ranks third for own lineout takes this term (109), while his teammate George McGuigan is the joint-top try-scorer in the league this term (15).
* Northampton Saints lost their most recent Premiership match (38-42 v Saracens) after winning five in a row previously. They have scored 32+ points in each of their last five Premiership fixtures, and they have lost their last two matches on the final day of the regular Premiership season after winning three such fixtures in a row previously.
* Northampton Saints have won their last three Premiership matches at home after losing three in a row previously. They have scored 21+ points in 10 of their 11 home matches so far this season, however, they have also conceded 22+ points in each of their last six matches at Franklin’s Gardens.
* Newcastle Falcons have won just one of their last seven matches away from home in the Premiership. However, their sole win during that period came by a margin of 35 points (45-10 v Worcester Warriors in Round 22), their heaviest away victory in the Premiership since beating Bristol Bears by 42 points in December 1997 (50-8).
* Only London Irish (3.24 seconds) have a faster average attacking ruck speed than Northampton Saints (3.29) in this season’s Premiership, however, they have also lost a greater percentage of their own rucks than any other side this term (5%).
* Northampton Saints have a higher success rate from kicks at goal than any other team in this season’s Premiership (80%), having successfully scored 105 of their 132 place-kick attempts.
* Newcastle Falcons are one of just two teams (also Leicester Tigers) to have won at least 90% of both their own lineouts (90%) and scrums (91%) in this season’s Premiership.
* Northampton Saints’ Lewis Ludlam made more carries than any other player in the most recent round of Premiership fixtures (17); Ludlam also ranks joint-fourth for breakdown steals in the league this term (12).
