Sunday's Premiership semi-final between Northampton and Saracens has already been talked up as something of a grudge match and the flames were fanned today when Jim Mallinder, the Northampton director of rugby, claimed that Brian Mujati, his Springbok prop, had been approached by Saracens last week.

"One of our players has had a phone call from one of their players," he said, "asking if he wants to leave and come to Saracens. When a player like that is under contract it's disappointing. But if that's the way they want to do their business …"

Things had been pretty raw between the two sides well before they landed each other in Sunday's semi-final, when Northampton will enjoy home advantage. Saracens had thought they had secured the signature of another of Northampton's props, Soane Tonga'uiha, recently only for the player to change his mind. The resultant rift ended only when Northampton agreed to pay Saracens compensation before the case went to arbitration.

Then Saracens had the nerve not only to beat Northampton on their own patch at the end of April, the Saints' only home defeat of the season to date, but also to sing their celebratory songs long and loud. "It hurt," Mallinder said. "We were disappointed at losing and to hear them straight outside our dressing room was rubbing it in. It got to us. We'll sing a song, if and only if we get to the final and win it."

Mallinder was soon warming to his theme, revealed all manner of other subterfuge indulged in by the opposition, including, but not restricted to, the dark art of cheerleader smuggling. "The Sarries management seem to try to stir things up a little bit. There are the things they do on the day — the banners, sneaking their dancers into the stadium, bringing a coach to sell their merchandise from — it's little games that they're trying to play. It's not the way we do things when we go away.

"There are certain managements who like to talk a lot, get their point across, whether that's about England or about their game or the opposition, and there are certain clubs who like to get their heads down and concentrate on the rugby. I like to think we're the latter."

A few tickets are still available, apparently. But they might not be for long.