Justin Marshall and Montpellier are after another English scalp after defeating Bristol in Round One. © Getty Images

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News: Marshall suspended by Montpellier

Matches: Northampton Saints 51 - 7 Montpellier

Players/Officials: Justin Marshall

Tournaments/Tours: European Challenge Cup | European Challenge Cup

Teams: Montpellier | Northampton Saints

Justin Marshall and Montpellier have their sights set on a second English scalp when they travel to Franklin's Gardens to take on Northampton Saints in their European Challenge Cup match on Saturday.

Former All Blacks scrum-half Marshall, who joined Montpellier from the Ospreys in the summer, helped the French club to an opening round 33-15 home win over Bristol Rugby and now they are preparing to take on the 2000 Heineken Cup winners who also made a winning start to the campaign with a thumping seven-try demolition of Toulon.

"We have ambitions at this club to be one of the best teams in France and exposure to the likes of Bristol and Northampton is a key part of that development," said Marshall.

"I don't think it's too soon for us to be competitive in Europe and we showed last week against Bristol that we are capable of winning our home games.

"It's very important for a young club like Montpellier to play in Europe as it gives the squad - be it the veterans of the team or some of our younger players - the opportunity to test themselves against players they don't normally come up against. They know the Top 14 and all of the teams in it and to come up against teams we don't know are great experiences for us.

"We didn't have a great start against Bristol and the character the team showed in not giving up and being determined and proud enough to fight our way back into the game was great to see.

"Without giving away too many state secrets, we are quite a mobile side. We are not as heavy in the forwards as the likes of Stade Français Paris, Toulouse and Biarritz Olympique, who have big packs.

"There is no point in running into their packs all day when they are that much bigger than us so we look to our strengths and try and move the ball about instead of just smashing into the opposition players.

"It suits us and the way that we play and we used our usual game plan against Bristol and that, hopefully, will continue to work as well against the big packs of the English teams as it does against the likes of Toulouse.

"We created a lot of opportunities to score and although we were disappointed with our finishing, we showed a lot of creativity in last week's game and only our finishing stopped our three tries from being six or seven."

The Saints marched back into Europe with a 56-3 win over Tana Umaga's Toulon side and Bruce Reihana's side will be banking on home advantage to make it two from two. "I watched that game and they were totally clinical and very impressive," said Marshall.

"They were very strong up front and finished off everything they created which means they will be a huge challenge for us. They already have five points in the bank and that game will have given them great confidence going into our match on Saturday as they will be looking for the same sort of result against us.

"It's going to be tough but also a great opportunity for us to go in as the underdogs and try and get something out of the match. I know that Northampton are very tight in the ruck area and they have two or three players who are very good at securing ball and that's going to be an important part of the game.

"However, I think the trap that you can easily fall into is to watch and analyse the opposition so much that by the time you get to the match your head is full of their team and you haven't focussed on preparing your own game.

"We didn't use video analysis at all for the Bristol game, concentrating instead on our own game and preparation and that worked very well for us so although we know where the main strengths of Northampton lie, I think we just need to be confident that we can be competitive and play our game.

"The key to this tournament is to win your home games and then concentrate on getting out of the Pool.

"The first part of that has gone well for us and now we'll try and get at least a point out of Northampton - although we'll be looking for four. Once you're past the Pools and it's a knock-out competition, anything can happen. I don't want to talk us up but by the same token I don't want to talk us down either. Suffice to say that we are going to Northampton looking to get a step closer to qualification."

EUROPEAN CHALLENGE CUP 2008/09 (All kick-offs LOCAL times)

ROUND 2

THURSDAY 16 OCTOBER, 2008

Pool 4 Brive v Newcastle Falcons 20.45 Peter Fitzgibbon (I) Eurosport France / Sky Sports

FRIDAY 17 OCTOBER, 2008

Pool 1 Connacht Rugby v London Irish 19.00 Jerome Garces (F)

Pool 2 Bristol Rugby v Toulon 19.45 George Clancy (I)

Pool 3 Bourgoin v Petrarca Rugby 20.30 JP Doyle (E)

Pool 5 Mont de Marsan v Bayonne 19.00 Rob Debney (E)

SATURDAY 18 OCTOBER, 2008

Pool 1 Rugby Rovigo v Dax 15.00 Gwyn Morris (W)

Pool 2 Northampton Saints v Montpellier 19.45 James Jones (W) Sky Sports / France 4

Pool 5 Viadana v Saracens 19.00 Pascal Gauzere (F)

SUNDAY 19 OCTOBER, 2008

Pool 3 Bucuresti Oaks v Worcester Warriors 16.30 Stefan Pomarede (F)

Pool 4 El Salvador v Overmach Parma 12.30 Andrew McMenemy (S)