“Everyone is really looking forward to it.”
Northampton have been without their international players for the last four weeks, with the Quilter Nations Cup seeing the involvement of some ten Saints across three countries throughout the tournament.
That has allowed a group of the Club’s younger stars to make the step up into senior rugby, a path trodden by Litchfield in recent seasons – who now has over half a century of Saints appearances to his name despite still being one of the younger members of the squad.
He said: “We always like to think that whoever you put on, in whatever position, can get the job done. We couldn’t quite do that against Newcastle but there’s lots of logistical changes in the last few weeks, especially in the back line.
“That has left people in positions they’re not too familiar with, different changes in leadership and stuff like that. That’s all good experience.”
While Litchfield has proved a versatile addition to Saints’ backline featuring across the centre and wing so far, the Saints Academy graduate will man his more regular position in the midfield at Welford Road on Friday.
It is a position where Saints have been spoilt for riches in recent seasons and Litchfield admits he has enjoyed watching his fellow Saints centres excelling on the integrational stage – with Rory Hutchinson donning a Scotland jersey over the Autumn and Fraser Dingwall becoming a regular feature in England’s centres, scoring a try in their 33-19 victory over the All Blacks last weekend.
“I didn’t catch any of the New Zealand game live because we had our game here; but from what I’ve seen since, all the boys did really well,” Litchfield said.
“I’ve seen clips of Dingers scoring and it’s really great to see those boys performing.
“It’s great because we always talk about if we perform well as a club, we get recognition on international stages, so it’s really nice to see all those boys playing a lot of minutes for England.”
