So the Aviva Premiership is back, the young
guns have done their stuff in the LV Cup, the English elite have recorded two
huge wins and one gallant loss and now it is time
to get back to the Aviva Premiership for some more domestic clashes of epic
proportions. As it is Movember some of the facial hair on show might be a little
bit dodgy however let's be clear that the rugby certainly won't be! Oh how
I have missed it, an Aviva Premiership weekend with three fully televised games
on BT Sport, six fixtures in total and
four hundred and eight minutes of rugby to played… excellent! So without further ado let’s dive
straight into it and preview Round 8 of the Aviva Premiership;
First up, the Friday Night Lights, this week Sale are
hosting the Worcester Warriors and clearly they will start the match as odds on
favourites. The Sharks are coming off the back of a narrow LV Cup win against
Harlequins and a narrow defeat to Bath and having fielded two strong teams for
both of these fixtures they will be riding on some collective confidence and will look
to ensure that Worcester’s Aviva Premiership slump continues. Dean Ryan’s team
provided us with the most exciting news of the LV Cup Round 1 by recording a WIN (the capitals are required for emphasis) against the Cardiff Blues at Adams Park. Topping that what was even more
encouraging was the fact that they continued their form and only narrowly lost
to a young Leicester Tigers team at Welford Road. So, could Worcester pull off the shock of the season and beat Sale at home?? Well, you never know!? It certainly
would be a huge achievement and statement seeing as they haven’t won on the road since 1st
January 2012!
The Saturday fixtures start at Sandy Park
where the Exeter Chiefs entertain Saracens. This match promises to be an
absolute humdinger and it is my personal pick of Round 8. Exeter
are the team who have steadily built and built and built and their outstanding development showcased itself beautifully in the Heineken Cup. Saracens, well they are undoubtedly one of the strongest teams in the Aviva Premiership; they are bursting with talent and haven’t lost successive away games in the Aviva
Premiership since January 2011. However Sandy Park is fast becoming known as Fortress Sandy Park and is one
of the most difficult places for any team to visit, no matter how good they
are. All in all this promises to be a cracker and let's hope that both teams' Social Media specialists are up for it too as this isn't one of the scheduled TV games this weekend.
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| Sandy Park will be rocking this weekend |
The Stoop welcomes back Aviva Premiership rugby
by hosting the Cherry and Whites. Neither of these two
established Premiership teams have had the best of starts to their 2013/14
campaigns and both will be looking rectify this immediately with a Round 8 win. Gloucester are sitting in 10th with only 12 points to their name and have recorded just one Aviva Premiership win so far. Harlequins, well they have only recorded one Aviva Premiership win at home
this season and are still battling with their humungous injury list. On a more
positive note for Quins the announcement that 3 driving forces behind the club, Conor O'Shea (DoR), John Kingston (Head Coach) and Collin Osborne (Skills Coach) will be in contract until 2016 starts their Round 8 on a high note. I expect that the game itself will be a competitive affair; both teams will be hoping for dry
day to be able to keep the ball with their backs and play some running
rugby. It certainly will interesting to see if Gloucester’s forwards have
improved during the LV break their scrum was their biggest weakness during Rounds 1-7.
The Leicester Tigers will be the happiest team in
the whole of the Aviva Premiership to welcome back their England stars. The
International season did not do them any favours as they dropped to 6th
in the table after two consecutive losses to Wasps and Harlequins. The Champions have looked out of sorts without their backbone of Internationals and let's hope that their precision returns again. Their opponents in Round 8 are London Irish who will of
course be looking for the James O’Connor effect to take serious shape this weekend. In his Round 7 debut against the Saints he didn’t get
much ball and it certainly will be very interesting to see what he can do with a lot more of it. Ultimately I think that Leicester
will come back with a bang in this round, they have a point to prove and the chance
of London Irish recording their first win at Welford Road since 2003 is slim, however stranger things have happened!!
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| The J.O.C Effect.... (Image Getty) |
Northampton Saints have been in formidable
form since Round 1 and unlike Leicester losing their England stars did absolutely nothing to dent that. Franklin’s Gardens is a huge stronghold... they have not lost a game there since Februay and you suspect that it could be a tough day at the office
for their visitors the Newcastle Falcons. In saying that, to date, the Falcons have exceeded
the expectations of many who thought that they would be the punch bag of the
2013/14 Aviva Premiership Season. They have steadily gained bonus point losses
and the odd win and sitting in 9th position. However their last Aviva Premiership outing was that thumping
from Saracens (3-40) at Allianz Park and their fans will be hoping that this match does not follow the same pattern.
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| Time for Action. Image @SaintsRugby |
Finally London Wasps versus Bath… this match
is likely to be one of the feistiest and closest of the weekend. Wasps will
certainly want to continue their winning habit at home and will
naturally look to Andy Goode; their old dog, with new tricks (said in an extremely respectful and nice way) in order to
help them do this. Bath, well they will be delighted with their first 7 rounds
of the Aviva Premiership... they are sitting pretty at 3rd in the table and their
young guns are proving that they are more than just wannabees. Having mentioned Mr Goode it would be remiss of me
not to mention the young man opposing him; Mr George Ford… deemed by many as
the future solution to the supposed English fly half problem (personally I’m not sure
that there is one) and it will be very interesting to watch the matchup between these
two, assuming they are both selected!
So there you have it, a little review of the
Aviva Premiership Round 8… and with the team news on its way the excitement will
keep on building and building until 7.45pm on Friday evening when the action starts! It is time to say a huge "Welcome
Back" to the Aviva Premiership, I can't wait for the action to restart because let's be honest, it just hasn’t quite been the same without it.
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| Premiership Rugby is back!! |
