Have you recovered from the drama
of Round 17 yet!? I do hope so because we are about to do it all over again in
just a few days’ time and Round 18 is
set to be just as emotionally draining as the last!
The Friday Night Lights always deliver mouth-watering clashes and I fully expect Round 18 to follow suit as Bath host Sale at The Rec. Bath rained
on the Irish St Patricks Day party last weekend and they did it in style, Mike Ford’s
men are looking stronger than ever and their strength isn’t just provided by one
individual, it is a collective strength and that is what is making them so
powerful. Up front and in the back row they are smashing the set piece and the
breakdown whilst in the backs they are running delightful moves that get your
rugby juices flowing. However it certainly won’t be all about them on Friday
Night because their opponents Sale
have been doing exactly the same thing just a little further north. Steve Diamond’s men delivered a hugely
impressive performance in Round 17 to pacify the mighty Northampton Saints. Led by the prolific Dan Braid and masterminded by Danny Cipriani in the backs they have been quietly climbing the table and showing everyone exactly how it is done. There isn’t really much to choose between these
two, both have only lost once in their last six Premiership fixtures and both
know that a win will be vital to continue their quest to be in the mix come
Round 22.
The Exeter Chiefs haven’t had the best of
weeks, they were steamrolled by a rampant group of Tigers at the weekend and to
top it off they have lost one of their most promising players as
Chris Whitehead was forced to retire with a neck injury. Exeter are a tightknit
squad, there will be a huge will to win it for Chris this weekend and the fact
that it is a ‘local’ derby adds even more spice to this Round 18 fixture. The
Chiefs should have the upper hand up front, particularly at scrum time, although Gloucester’s has improved it is not quite the finished article yet. Behind
the scenes it has been a busy week at Kingsholm as they have announced three
further signings; Championship star Mark Atkinson, Scarlets ' Aled Thomas and Ospreys
Centre Tom Isaacs to join their other notable signings; Afoa, Galarza, Hibbard and Laidlaw. However Gloucester must
focus on the here and now and ensure that they are on the money for the full 80
minutes, both in defence and in attack, to gain as much as possible from Round 18.
Saturday's fixture will be Harlequins’ second London Derby in the same number of weeks however
there are a few vital differences to last weekend, the first is that they will
be at home and not at Wembley and the second and most important one is that
they will have their full International contingent back on the field. Can I get
a ‘Whoop Whoop’ from Quins fans!?!? The sparkle that Brown and Care will bring in attack
and the workrate of Robshaw and Marler should be more than enough to seal a
strong home victory against their London rivals. London Irish will be disappointed with the result of their St
Patrick’s Day Party, much has been spoken about ‘that TMO’ decision however as
Brian Smith rightly pointed out after the game his team needs to respond better
than they did to what he called ‘unfair decisions’. Irish’s powerful back three O’Connor, Ojo
and Yarde have the potential to inflict major damage however they
need to turn this potential into action on Saturday afternoon at The
Stoop.
London Wasps Club Captain Chris Bell likened his teams’ performance
against Worcester to a ‘stuttering car’; one that didn’t really run smoothly
but made it to their destination regardless, therefore continuing on that theme
let’s hope that this weekend their car has been amped up, re-sprayed and given the engine of
an Audi R8 before hosting Saracens. Saracens are sitting pretty at the top of the table and are in
menacing form, cutting off their half backs will be critical to Wasps’ chances
of ‘doing a Sale’ and delivering a large Premiership shock. Look out for some thunderous hits at Adams Park; James Haskell and Sam Jones will certainly
enjoy getting to know Jacques Burger and co and both sides will wish to throw
the ball around. Wasps will be hoping that their opponents have enjoyed themselves a
little too much on their ‘jolly’ in New York this week whilst Saracens will
aim to replicate their Round 17 performance just with a touch tighter discipline than they showed at Wembley.
Whilst the Northampton Saints weren’t
on the best of form last weekend against the Sale Sharks you can bet your
bottom dollar that they will have regrouped quickly and will now be more than
ready to host the Leicester Tigers this
weekend. Most would say that this is the biggest derby in the land and my goodness me will it be a firecracker. Leicester gave the performance of their season in Round 18, they were efficient in defence and spirited in attack led by
huge performances from Niki Goneva, Logovi'i Mulipola and the Youngs brothers. Northampton
fans will be hoping that Stephen Myler has recovered enough to take his place
in the starting XV and that Luther Burrell, Dylan Hartley, George North and Tom
Wood can get back to their ‘team smashing’ best. It will be an absolute blinder
at Franklin’s Gardens with two immense sets of forwards introducing clashing and two
talented back lines looking to run rings around each other, get ready for a thriller!
This is the monster clash, the
one that both teams have on their radar for a long, long time… for Worcester it really is do or die, and I
know that I have said a few times previously, however this time I truly mean it. If Worcester don’t get a result at Kingston Park then the
Championship becomes almost a certainty. On the flip side Newcastle know
that their fate is in their own hands, they’ve announced a number of signings
and contract extensions in the lead up to the fixture and a win would be the
icing on the cake. I don’t think it will be the cleanest of matches that we
have seen this year… nerves are likely to induce quite a few dropped balls and
moves that don’t quite work out but I can guarantee that the level of raw
emotion and desire will make up for that. Chris Pennell and Jonathan Thomas need
to lead their men fearlessly and Ryan Lamb needs to pull ‘one of those’
performances out of the bag. For Newcastle they need their experienced men to step up and be counted for; Mike Blair must
boss his forwards and Godman’s kicks will be critical. The match will be
dramatic and it will be a nail biter from start to finish... the result, too close to call in my opinion.
