Saints travel to Paris this weekend sitting on top of the pool after a home win over the Scarlets and a fine victory on the road at Guinness Pro 12 champions Glasgow.

The Aviva Premiership outfit lost both meetings against the French team last season, including a 20-11 defeat at Stade Yves du Manoir, when the teams were again drawn together in the pool stages.

It will be a tough test for the Saints, particularly with All Black great Dan Carter in line to make his Racing 92 debut on the back of experiencing Rugby World Cup glory.

But Northampton have won their last four matches in all competitions, and director of rugby Mallinder and his men will travel with confidence.

“We are not playing brilliantly but we are winning games and we are generating some momentum,” said Mallinder. “We are working hard for our victories, we are doing okay but we are not getting carried away. 

“We have got some big players who are out at the moment and we have big games coming up. But the young players in the squad are stepping up and winning rugby matches for us.”

But prop Alex Waller is fully aware of just how difficult a test Racing will be as the Saints target revenge following those pool-stage defeats of last term.

“You never want to go into big European games on the back of losses so we have something we can build on,” he said.

“But we are fully aware this is going to be a massive test. They have a big squad, full of internationals and star names so it will be a real challenge.

“We did not have the best result down there last year and they also beat us here in the home game, so we want to go and put in a decent performance and hopefully get a better outcome than we did last time there.”

Match Facts

• Racing 92 have won both their previous Champions Cup matches against Northampton Saints, outscoring them 52-19 in the process.
• Racing 92 have won six and drawn one of their last eight matches, their only loss in that period coming against English side Saracens by a single point (12-11).
• Racing 92 have won only two of their last seven matches against English opposition (L5), though both of those wins were against Northampton Saints in the 2014/15 Pool stage.
• Northampton Saints have won six of their last eight matches in the Champions Cup and have conceded an average 15.6 points per game over those eight fixtures.
• Racing 92 have recorded a 92% tackle success rate in competition so far, the best rate of any team.
• These sides make up two of the four teams yet to lose a scrum on their own feed so far this season; Northampton are also one of four sides to win a scrum against the head.
• Only Oyonnax and Treviso have averaged fewer carries per game this season than Northampton (76) and Racing 92 (73)
• Three of Racing’s four tries this season have originated from a lineout win, only Saracens (5) have scored more after winning a throw.
• Both Wenceslas Lauret and Luke Charteris of Racing 92 have stolen two lineouts this season making the French club the only team in the tournament to have more than one player with multiple steals.
• Saints’ Jamie Gibson has won 12 lineouts, only Alun Wyn Jones and George Kruis have won more (14).