Time is flying by at the rate of knots, there are
just 4 tiny rounds left in this year’s 2013/14 Aviva Premiership Season and
things are far from sorted at the top, bottom or indeed in the middle of the
table... however Round 19 may go some way towards firming a few things up!
At the
beginning of the season the Friday Night fixture between Sale and Harlequins wasn't
deemed as a one to watch however given the precarious position of both teams in
relation to the playoffs it has now become a huge, huge fixture. Both sides have
been busy with the Amlin Challenge Cup and whilst they had differing fortunes (Quins won easily in Paris whilst Sale lost heavily at home) you can guarantee that neither will be tired going into this game. It will be a
fierce battle of wills all over the park; the line out dual between Paterson and Easter
will be scintillating, the fly half clash between Evans and Cipriani will be intriguing and perhaps the largest battle of them all will be between the two front rows. The last time that these two met in
October Sale didn’t turn up however don’t expect that to happen again, Braid
and Co mean business and Conor O’Shea’s men know that it is must win game
if they wish to stay in the running for the playoffs.
Gloucester have announced a number of
signings over the past few weeks and Kingsholm is looking like it is going to
be a pretty exciting place next season however right now they are not having
the best of times on the field. Whilst their set piece problem is improving on the whole the Cherry & Whites aren't playing cohesive rugby at the moment and that is tough for fans to take. Their opponents; Bath Rugby are in the
middle of a small Aviva Premiership slump having lost their last two games in a
row however that does not make them a bad side, it simply means that they have been found out on two consecutive occasions. Their strong win in the Amlin
Challenge Cup, albeit it against a weakened Brive side, will have restored their
confidence and they are likely to be back to their Premiership best this
weekend. Gavin Henson may have secured an extra year on his contract however his place in the starting line up is taken by the outrageously talented Kyle Eastmond. For both teams a win is vitally important; Bath need it in order to
cement their playoff position whilst Gloucester need it to continue to
pressure Wasps for that important 7th position.
The Leicester Tigers return to Welford Road for their Round 19 action... it is safe to say that there have been moments this season when many thought that they had left too late too however as they always do, they have come into form when it really matters. Richard Cockerill's men played their hearts out at Clermont and were unlucky to leave empty handed and whilst I'm sure that it hurt at the time, they will have left their European disappointment over the channel and be ready to focus entirely on retaining their Premiership title. It is great to see Geoff Parling finally returning from injury and the London Wasps certainly have a job on their hands. Dai Youngs has made a whole host of changes, some are forced others are not; James Cannon, Tommy Bell , Phil Swainston and Charlie Davies all start with Andrea Masi, Joe Simpson, Jake Cooper-Woolley,and Kearnan Myall all ruled out due to injury and James Haskell rested due to the amount of rugby that he has played in recent weeks. After their huge performance against Gloucester in the Amlin Challenge Cup confidence will be high. which will be necessary to face Cockers' men.
2 years, 9 months and 29 days, that is how long that the Worcester Warriors had to wait to record a big fat W next to their name but boy was it worth the wait. There is no doubting the fact that the Warriors are well into their 9th and final life in this year’s Aviva Premiership however it is great to see such fighting spirit from Dean Ryan's men. Their opponents, the
Exeter Chiefs haven't been able to string together a strong run of matches this season and
they certainly will need to focus at Sixways this weekend. In theory Exeter
should have too much for the Warriors if their 23 reach their full potential; captain Dean Mumm, Dave Ewers and Henry Slade all need to
take charge of the game from the outset in order to be successful. Worcester will look towards their usual talisman; Chris
Pennell, Josh Drauniniu, Jonathan Thomas and David Lemi in order to
steer them towards victory number two. Can the Warriors prove that Premiership wins are like London buses... you wait for a very long time for one and then two come at once!?
The Clash Of The Titans is the most apt name to describe this Round 19 fixture between Saracens and the Northampton Saints at Allianz Park. It is a case of one versus two in what could be a preview of the eventual Aviva Premiership Final...!?! There are simply too many head to head match ups to pick out one in particular... both packs have been bulloduzing the rest of the Premiership, both sets of backs have been running lines and scoring the types of tries that some teams can only dream about and on Sunday afternoon it will be a thrilling contest when they will meet on that beautiful 4G surface. The Northampton Saints won comfortably against Sale in the Amlin Challenge Cup and didn’t expend too much energy doing it so they will certainly be fresh for this Premiership encounter. A huge bonus would be if Stephen Myler is fit however listening to their podcast from last week I think it might be a little too soon for him. Given the drama at Ravenhill most teams would be tired however let's not forget that Saracens aren't most teams and I'm certain that they will have dusted themselves off and be more than ready to rumble at home against their fiercest Premiership rivals this weekend.
The final fixture of the weekend is at the
Madjeski Stadium between London Irish and the Newcastle Falcons, whilst London
Irish are safe for another year once again Newcastle find themselves in the
familiar position of not quiet being home and dry just yet. Both teams lost in
Round 18 and neither qualified for any form of European rugby so they should
both be refreshed after a good week's training. Newcastle will need to firm up
their core skills and produce a performance that is a little more precise than
the one that they delivered two weeks ago at Kingston Park and London Irish
will need to really get their killer backs involved because on paper their back
three of O'Connor, Ojo and Yarde should be eating teams for breakfast. Expect
young Joel Hodgson to make an impact at fly half either off the bench or a the
starting ten and up front returning Exile Scott Lawson will spearhead a strong
forward effort.
