After two weeks of scintillating European action there
is no rest for the wicked as our Aviva Premiership teams head straight in Round
10 to battle it out for Christmas supremacy. It is another set of huge
clashes so without any further introduction let’s dive into the fixtures;
First stop… my favourite the Friday Night Lights! In Round 10 we are
heading back to the AJ Bell Stadium for some more late night action as the Sale
Sharks take on London Irish.
Last time out in the Aviva Premiership Sale delivered a very respectable
losing bonus point against Saracens and for 40 minutes it looked as if they
were going to pull off an outrageous win. Their recent Amlin campaign was a successful one with
them recording 2 strong wins over Oyonnax and this will have boosted their ever growing confidence even more. There is no hiding the fact that the Sharks boys smell Irish blood and will want to record a strong victory underneath those Friday
Night Lights.
During the European break it has been all systems
go at London Irish
and they enter Round 10 with a new Irish consortium in charge, a new signing and hopefully a spring in their step. The new owners have committed to investing into all areas
including the boosting professional playing squad and it is hoped that this will help stop the exodus of talented youngsters away from the club. Back on the pitch a win in the Aviva Premiership is critical for this Irish squad... their last win was in Round 5 which was a long, long time ago and no-one wants to see their season free-fall out of control again.
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| Irish's Main Man! (Image @JamesOConnor832) |
The Saturday action starts at The Rec where Bath
host Harlequins. Bath are another
club who have been hitting the headlines during the European period both on and
off the field. The departure of Gary Gold from the club was unexpected and with
only a short statement being released the mystery of the sudden Gold loss lives
on. On the field their A League team delivered a huge performance away at
Franklin’s Gardens to secure their first silverware of the season and their Amlin dominance continued. This weekend will be a cracking test and I'm anticipating a huge head to head between the George Ford
and Nick Evans (providing both are fit and picked). Fingers crossed that the weather is fine at the notoriously rainy Rec because if it does stay clear we will see some superb running rugby all around.
Harlequins have
pulled up their socks and started to play the type of rugby that we all know that
they are capable of and their double win over Racing Metro proved this. With
Paul Doran-Jones and Nick Kennedy back on the field and with more of their injured
players coming back things are looking quite rosy in South West London. Quins are not afraid of playing away from home, we saw what
they did at Welford Road in Round 7 and that is why I’m predicting this to be
one hell of a battle at The Rec.
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| The lineout master is back! (Image @QuinsRugbyUnion) |
At Sandy Park the Exeter Chiefs welcome the Newcastle Falcons and since Round 9 the Chiefs
have had more to contend with than most taking on the mighty Champions of Europe,
Toulon, twice in two weeks. Both fixtures were brutal encounters and I’m sure
the medical staff at Sandy Park were extremely busy this week getting
their players fit for action again. Coming so close, twice, could cause some
to be a little demoralised however I suspect that it will have the opposite
effect on Rob Baxter's men and they will run out on Saturday more fired up than ever, ready to smash Newcastle into next week!!
The Falcons had a good time in Europe scoring 60 points over two weeks
against that well known side Cammi Rugby Calvisano! Their Premiership journey
to date has been steady… they are not the walkover team, they are not bottom and
they are beginning to be taken seriously. Do I think that they can
turnover Exeter at home? Honestly, no, however I think that they will be
competitive, particularly up front and they will want to get stuck into the home
side.
Europe was a steady time for London
Wasps they delivered two strong wins and welcomed back Tom Varndell.
Naturally the points machine marked his return to action with a try and his return is a huge boost to the team. This weekend’s fixture against Saints is massive, it is imperative that the home
team obtain a strong result to show that they are real Top 4/6 contenders this year. The physicality will be thunderous and Adams Park
will be buzzing (yes it had to be done) with excitement.
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| Time to step up for Wasps |
Looking at the visitors, I don’t think that any other
Premiership team had a more turbulent or emotional time in Europe than Northampton Saints. I would have loved to have been a fly on the
wall during the past two weeks at the club to witness the whole affair.
The manner in which they stepped up at the Aviva Stadium was outstanding and the leadership
shown from Tom Wood and Dylan Hartley was phenomenal. They will arrive at Adams
Park in high spirits, especially knowing that they have resigned a quintet of
hugely important players (details here) and I envisage that the Saints will deliver a huge performance on Saturday afternoon away from home.
The final Saturday offering is a big one… Saracens versus Leicester Tigers
on the 4G turf at Allianz Park. Saracens
will have rubbed their hands together in glee when they saw that Zebre were
their back to back fixture in the Heineken Cup and not the mighty Toulouse. Scoring
103 points and conceding only 13 isn’t a bad couple of weekends work and with
Chris Ashton back on form, Owen Farrell bossing it (technical term) from 10 and the Wolfpack smashing anything in sight everything is looking exceedingly
rosy at Saracens.
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| Ashie is back on form! (Image Getty) |
Leicester Tigers are certainly having a character
building season… their centre curse, huge injury list and the uncertain future
of their captain aren’t really conducive to a happy home however this is the
Tigers we are talking about and boy are they thick skinned. Their last gasp
victory in Montpellier just goes to show how just how much pride and heart the club has. Leicester do not
crash out of the Heineken Cup early doors nor do they like being mid table so expect a huge response this weekend at Allianz.
The final fixture of the weekend is at Kingsholm between
two teams with a lot on their minds! Gloucester, Gloucester, Gloucester… when
will they get a bit of luck and deliver the performance they are desperate to
do for their fans and for themselves? If ever there was a case of trying too hard
then this would be it… in 2 of their last 3 encounters they over thought it and
ultimately didn’t deliver the result. The announcement of some outrageously good signings this week shows the intention and direction that Nigel Davies has for
the club. Richard Hibbard and John Afoa will be brilliant however they are not
at Kingsholm just yet and it is down to this weekend’s match day squad to deliver
the win that The Shed expects and the club needs.
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| Here we go! (Image @gloucesterrugby) |
Worcester Warriors’ performances are improving… the Dean Ryan effect is
starting to be seen however, like Gloucester, the wins are just not arriving
and the rounds are ticking by. It is superb to see the commitment that the
players have to the club and the long term vision, with contract extensions are
coming in thick at fast and you never know this could be the weekend that sees
Worcester record that elusive Aviva Premiership victory that they so desperately long
for.
So there we have it Round 10 in a nutshell (albeit a big one)… 3 days… 6
huge fixtures… and 480 minutes of Aviva Premiership action to enjoy…. tomorrow
we will find out the rest of the team news and then it is straight into the
action on Friday Night! It’s a double weekend of rugby for me; I’m heading
to Allianz on Saturday to enjoy Saracens versus Leicester and then on Sunday I’m
back in the BT Sport studio for Gloucester versus Worcester… so I’ll see you all
then!!
