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Northampton Saints director of rugby Phil Dowson referenced his side's heavy 41-17 defeat by Leicester Tigers last month after their match at Harlequins last Saturday.

Leicester ran in six tries during a fiery East Midlands derby at Mattioli Woods Welford Road, handing Dowson's men their first league defeat of the calendar year.

"I think it's great from a fans point of view," Dowson told BBC Radio Northampton. "Fundamentally, we've got to play the Leicester Tigers that are going to turn up on Friday night.

"That means learning our lessons from last time, prepare thoroughly, and make sure our house is in order for Friday night."

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On the eve of the match, the four directors of the sides that are contesting the Prem semi-finals - including Saints' Phil Dowson and Tigers' Geoff Parling - met to discuss the game's big issues on the BBC's Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

A standout area of debate was highlighting players' minute time, and it was argued that England's top stars are playing too much rugby during the season.

But as Dowson and Parling claim, the responsibility of resting players shouldn't just fall on the clubs.

"It can't always be the clubs holding the burden," Dowson said. "Sometimes the international side has to also say [a player] doesn't need to play in this game or that game.

"If Henry Pollock goes over his 30-game limit, is it entirely my responsibility to rest him going forward? There has to be talk around, actually, what is best for Henry?"

Parling added: "I found it quite hard trying to balance the needs of young players who you want to develop, the needs of older players who you want to get Prem ready, and the needs of internationals coming back at the right time or internationals that have not had much game time."

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Tonight's East Midlands derby is all set to be an absolute humdinger.

You can read more on the rivalry between these two clubs in Andrew Aloia's article which can be accessed here.

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Geoff Parling ends his first season as Leicester Tigers boss with a huge amount of credit in the bank.

Parling has overseen an exhilarating and entertaining style of play this term - not often the words you would associate with the Tigers in years gone by.

And after guiding the club to the Prem Rugby Cup trophy in March, the former Tigers forward said his side will be "excited" for tonight's derby showdown, admitting that the rivalry always brings an "emotion edge", but insisted that his side has prepared as normal.

"The group are in a great spot, we won't do much different to what we normally do," he told BBC East Midlands Today.

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Northampton Saints topped the Prem standings at the end of the regular season, losing just three league matches in a terrific return to form.

They finished a disappointing eighth last year, missing out on the play-offs, but have since bounced back, playing electric rugby throughout the campaign.

One of those three defeats was to tonight's opposition - a 41-17 hammering at Mattioli Woods Welford Road - with both sides winning their home games against each other in the league and Prem Cup.

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Good evening and welcome along to our live text coverage of this season's first Prem semi-final.

With Bath and Exeter Chiefs waiting in the wings before their clash at The Rec tomorrow afternoon, we have an East Midlands derby to sink our teeth in to tonight as Northampton Saints host Leicester Tigers at Franklin's Gardens.

Let's get stuck into some build up, shall we?