Jim Mallinder on a mission to silence Saracens

NORTHAMPTON director of rugby Jim Mallinder challenged his players to get their revenge on Saracens next Sunday after seeing his team secure a home semi-final in the play-offs with a convincing 31-7 win at London Irish on Saturday.

There is no love lost between Saints and Sarries, who angered Mallinder's squad with some over-the-top celebrations in the dressing room following a win at Franklin's Gardens last month.

Mallinder will now use that incident as motivation as Northampton look to clinch a place in the Guinness Premiership final against either Leicester or Bath. "That hurt, hearing them singing as if they'd won the league," said Mallinder. "You can take motivation from a lot of things and we're eagerly looking forward to that game now.

Saracens' head coach Brendan Venter was thrilled by his side's 32-23 victory over Leicester at Welford Road – their first victory there in 32 visits.

The victory was not enough to secure a home draw for Saracens in the play-offs but Venter said: "Next week is irrelevant for the guys as this was a fantastic day. We measure ourselves against Leicester as they are the best in the Premiership."

Bath booked their place in the last four with a 39-3 victory over Leeds Carnegie at the Recreation Ground, a win which featured five tries.

It was Bath's 11th victory from their last 12 Premiership matches, setting up a semi-final appointment away to Leicester.