It
may be Christmas but that doesn't mean that the Aviva Premiership action stops…
whilst most of us have spent the festive period enjoying lots of mulled wine,
champagne (in my case) mince pies and turkey our Premiership teams have been
training hard in preparation for the weekend. Round 11 is full
to bursting point with outstanding fixtures; the Friday Night Lights at
Kingston Park, a Welford Road search for redemption, the hunt for victory at
Sixways, a top of the table tussle at Franklin's Gardens, a Big Game at
Twickenham and a bottom of the table scrap at the Madjeski. So sit back and
relax on this Boxing Day, and enjoy a full Round 11 Preview;
Tomorrow Newcastle welcome Wasps to a chilly Kingston Park and they are
hoping that they can capitalise on their home advantage. As I've said before
the Falcons have had a better season than many expected them to however they
have still lost their last four Premiership encounters. Losing isn't ideal
however the more pressing issue concerns their try scoring record... their last
try was in Round 6, 335 minutes ago. Father Christmas must have received their
letter asking for more tries because he has delivered them a superb present in the form of the Samoan winger Sinoti Sinoti. Sinoti will arrive
shortly and will be available for Round 12… so, what do we know about him? Well
he has played at an array of top clubs, including a spell at Toulon with a
certain Sonny Bill Williams, and
he likes to score tries for fun (see here). Fingers
crossed that he'll get over that line and open those try scoring floodgates. London Wasps, aren't a team who find scoring tries
difficult, especially now their wing man Tom Varndell is back from injury. They will arrive at Kingston
Park still hurting after that last minute loss to Northampton at Adams Park and
will certainly want to blow Falcons away to prove that they are truly a top
flight contender.
Leicester Tigers'
Round 10 was a nightmare of epic proportions at Allianz Park and it can only be
a good thing that they are returning home to Welford Road in search of redemption.
Some may say that the fact that they are playing against Sale Sharks is also a
good thing however I suspect that the visitors will fancy this one… a lot! Christmas
is a time for giving and I wonder if Jim Mallinder had a little advice for
Cockers' regarding gargantuan turn arounds…? However let's not be too negative because
Leicester did play some good rugby against Saracens, the fact that they lost so
heavily was due to the precision and cut throat nature of the home team not all to do with their own performance. Sale
Sharks; "riding high and loving life" that I believe is the short and
sweet assessment of Steve Diamond's men right now. They are the phoenix that
has risen from the ashes and whilst much of the praise has been given to Danny
Cipriani it truly has been a team effort and it is great to see them
flourishing. However let's not forget
that Welford Road is a fortress and a team from the North of Leicester hasn't
won there since 2008...
For Northampton Saints, the Premiership has been going well, very well… they have not lost a match since that 19-19 draw at Welford Road in Round 5 and they continue to deliver wins week after week. Why? Well if you look at the team sheet they have it all, a steady controller at 10 in Stephen Myler, a huge amount of dynamism in their back row, sparky backs, punchy forwards and two huge, huge leaders in Tom Wood and Dylan Hartley. Bath Rugby are another team who are simply loving life… like their opponents they haven't lost since Round 5 and in fact they are on an 11 match winning run in all tournaments. This certainly isn't bad for a side who were supposed to only be finding their feet this season with so many new faces. I cannot wait to watch this encounter, it is filled with glorious head to heads all over the park and personally I'm looking forward to the tussle between Matt Garvy, Francois Low and Carl Fearns against Calum Clark, Tom Wood and Sam Dickinson (if all are fit and picked). All in all it is set to be an absolute fire cracker of at fixture at Franklin's Gardens!
For Northampton Saints, the Premiership has been going well, very well… they have not lost a match since that 19-19 draw at Welford Road in Round 5 and they continue to deliver wins week after week. Why? Well if you look at the team sheet they have it all, a steady controller at 10 in Stephen Myler, a huge amount of dynamism in their back row, sparky backs, punchy forwards and two huge, huge leaders in Tom Wood and Dylan Hartley. Bath Rugby are another team who are simply loving life… like their opponents they haven't lost since Round 5 and in fact they are on an 11 match winning run in all tournaments. This certainly isn't bad for a side who were supposed to only be finding their feet this season with so many new faces. I cannot wait to watch this encounter, it is filled with glorious head to heads all over the park and personally I'm looking forward to the tussle between Matt Garvy, Francois Low and Carl Fearns against Calum Clark, Tom Wood and Sam Dickinson (if all are fit and picked). All in all it is set to be an absolute fire cracker of at fixture at Franklin's Gardens!
Dean Ryan's Worcester squad gave it absolutely
everything and more against the Cherry and Whites last weekend and many say
that they deserved the win more than their opponents. It was the performance
that was the most encouraging thing, at the weekend Worcester were a much better side than we were greeted by
in Round 1; they held onto the ball well, they broke the gain line and they
worked extremely hard all over the park. Taking on Saracens is a huge task and
aiming for a bonus point loss may be a little defeatist however it also may be
a little more achievable and realistic for the squad. Saracens, well they
showed endless amounts of strength, determination and brilliance against
Leicester last weekend… they were absolutely ruthless in horrific conditions
and walked all over the current Champions. If they repeat this performance then
sadly Worcester are in for a tough, tough time this weekend at Sixways.
Welcome to
"The Big Game 6", let me introduce it to those of you who haven't come
across it before… every year Harlequins
take over 'Big' Twickenham for their seasonal fixture, they fill it and enjoy
a little bit good old fashioned festive fun. This year's Big Game opponents are
the Exeter Chiefs and boy do they
present a hefty challenge. Rob Baxter's Exeter
squad who will be 'massively up for it' (a highly technical term there) and
will relish the prospect of gaining their first ever win at Twickenham and turning
over the home side in front of 80,000. Conor O'Shea will hope that Harlequins' Round
10 match against Bath was their dodgy dress rehearsal and that their opening night
will be sensational. Watch out
for the battle of the 10s between Gareth Steenson vs. Nick Evans and also the delicious prospect of Nick Easter getting to know the likes of Dave Ewers and Dean
Mumm very well!
The final
fixture of the weekend is a tasty bottom of the table encounter at the Madjeski
Stadium. London Irish are having a
bit of a difficult time lately, they've lost their last 5 matches in a row in
the Aviva Premiership and certainly were a little off the mark at Sale last
Friday night. To top things off they are now without the wrecking ball that is Chris
Hala'ufia, as this week he received a four week ban for a tip tackle on David
Seymour. There is no denying it, he is a huge loss and many Irish fans feel
very hard done by with that ban. Gloucester
finally eradicated their own 5 match losing run last weekend against Worcester
and they would dearly love to make it two wins in a row. It will certainly be
interesting to see Nigel Davies' team sheet later in particular whose name
is next to the number 10… Billy… Freddie… Freddie… Billy !?! Out there on the
pitch this will be a dogged affair, both teams require the win as much as each
other, both haven't been playing to their full potential and both will fight
tooth and nail to finish victorious.
So Santa may
have gone away for another year however let's not be sad because the Aviva
Premiership continues in earnest and Round 11 is jam packed full of festive
delights. I do hope that you are all thoroughly relaxed and happy after
spending a couple of days with loved ones enjoying the magic of Christmas. If
you are heading to any of the matches then have a great time as the rugby will be
superb and hopefully the great British weather will hold off too!
