Northampton and Bath both aim to end long waits for a Premiership title when they meet in the final at Twickenham on Saturday.
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Once the giants of English rugby, Bath's wait for a trophy has been even longer with the six-times league winners last crowned champions in 1996.starts for the final time for Saints, bringing to an end 17 years at Northampton, with Alex Waller, Lewis Ludlam and Alex Moon also playing their final games for the club.
Smith has had a breakthrough season at Saints, scoring 252 club points, making his senior debut for England during the Six Nations andIn the semi-final win against Saracens, he kept his cool to kick 17 points and ultimately give his side a two-point win. "I can't speak highly enough of Finn. What he has added to this group this season has been unbelievable.
Lee Radford was brought over from rugby league as their new defence coach last summer and despite calling his appointment a "bit of a left-fielder", the 45-year-old's arrival has proved a masterstroke. They are also now reaping the benefit of years of developing their own players, with George Furbank, Alex Coles and Fraser Dingwall all coming through their academy to become key first-team fixtures.
"Our set-piece, we have to be on point, really tight five, maul defence has to be on point, we're going to have to put our game on them from a scrum point of view."We want to be out of the line making defenders make decisions and when we do that we generally put people into space."It is hard to believe on this season's showing that two years ago Bath finished the season bottom the Premiership table.
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