Centurion Diggin aims to deny Redpath in all-English showdown

PAUL Diggin hopes to celebrate his 100th Northampton appearance in the grand manner this afternoon – by winning a trophy.

Saints wing Diggin lines up in the LV> Cup final at Worcester's Sixways Stadium, where Bryan Redpath's Gloucester stand between Northampton and a place in next season's Heineken Cup. European qualification, as well as silverware, is on offer for the victors of a competition that stages its first all-English final.

Sole remaining Welsh survivors Cardiff Blues were dumped out by Gloucester last weekend, while Saints saw off Saracens to keep alive hopes of a possible trophy treble this term.

Northampton are also hotly contesting Heineken Cup and Guinness Premiership glory, but their first objective is to capture Anglo-Welsh silverware which has eluded them in the past.

"It's great for the fans to get to a cup final," Diggin said. "It's our second cup final in two years so hopefully, when it counts, we can get the result.

"Gloucester are one of the form teams at the moment. They play some attractive rugby, (James] Simpson-Daniel is scoring tries for fun and (Lesley] Vainikolo is getting back to his best. They've got some good heads in the pack as well, and they are going to want to win this. But we want to win this as well. It's our first chance of silverware this season, we've got ourselves in this position and hopefully we can carry our form from last weekend into this game."

Northampton-born Diggin has scored 43 tries in 99 appearances for Saints and will be a key part of their attacking armoury today. "Reaching 100 games is a great achievement and something that means a lot to me," he added.

Northampton are without England trio Ben Foden, Chris Ashton and Dylan Hartley, in addition to Scotland prop Euan Murray.

Shane Geraghty moves to full-back instead of Foden, with Stephen Myler at fly-half, and there is a start for England international Courtney Lawes alongside second-row partner Juandre Kruger.

"We set ourselves some targets to achieve and the first of those comes up with this final," said Gloucester head coach Redpath. "Northampton are a quality side, they've been very consistent throughout the season. We have looked at some of the stuff they've achieved this season and admired it. It's been outstanding.

"It's going to be a tough challenge. We have a fairly hefty injury and absentee list, but that's life. The boys that are here are still good enough to go out and compete at this level and I am looking forward to it massively."