With just four rounds of the regular season to go I can safely say that we are about to immerse ourselves in the business end of the Premiership season and looking at the match-ups this weekend I think that Round 19 could be one of the best of the lot.
As I sit and write this in South West London (just after lunchtime on Friday) the sun is shining and the temperature has settled nicely in the mid-teens. It’s perfect conditions for all singing, all dancing Premiership Rugby and I truly hope that it stays this way until Sunday night. With matches at Wembley and Twickenham Stadium as well as a large crowd expected at the Ricoh Arena for their derby day the stage is set for a great showcase of Premiership Rugby.
Tonight Steve Diamond's Sale Sharks will start the weekend as they host Worcester Warriors at the AJ Bell Stadium. The hosts will be looking to turn around a three match losing streak in the competition while Worcester are searching for their first home away win in the competition since Round 17 last season. For the Sharks it will be about reminding everyone that the AJ Bell isn’t an easy place to travel to and they’ll be looking for the man hitting all of the headlines at the moment - Denny Solomona - to continue his impressive try scoring record. Worcester need to continue building on the steps that they’ve been putting in place over the last few rounds and with Ben Te’o returning to the side he’ll want to make a statement of his own. At the AJ Bell we could see plenty of points but both must remember that defence also can win you matches! Match Fact: The Warriors have not won on Sharks soil since a 17-9 victory at Edgeley Park in November 2008. 
The second Friday night game is a little further north as the Newcastle Falcons host Gloucester Rugby. With the Cherry and Whites sitting in eighth position - five points behind Saints in seventh - they will be well aware of the importance of finding their elusive consistency in the latter rounds. Will we finally see a strong run of games put together!? The Falcons will be desperate to atone for the thrashing that Harlequins dished out to them in Round 18 and they have to be careful that they haven't played this game too early in their heads over their recent break. After his stormer in the Challenge Cup quarter-finals Billy Twelvetrees remains at fly-half for the visitors and if he's on the money again then the Falcons will have their hands full. In a week when he announced a new contract Alex Tait will make his 200th appearance for the hosts and alongside wanting to give him a 200th to remember there’s the added motivation that the hosts could achieve a season's double over Gloucester for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Match Fact: The Falcons' home record in Premiership Rugby this season is won five, lost four with the defeats all being to four of the teams currently occupying the top five spots in the league.
On Saturday afternoon Twickenham Stadium will open its doors for The Clash as Bath Rugby and the Leicester Tigers duel at the home of rugby. This is my game of the round and the one that I would have been at with bells on if I wasn't working at Sky Sports all weekend. It's fourth versus fifth, has current fly-halves against new fly-halves and international match-ups to go with that. We're all well aware that this is effectively a play-off for the play-offs and as a result it's going to be huge. Bath's Premiership form has wilted since their dominant start but I'm expecting it to return with vengeance on Saturday afternoon. They put Brive to bed in the Challenge Cup last weekend and looked to have more gears to go into. From a Tigers point of view it's been an turbulent time this season and despite all of that their desire to win trophies is as strong as ever and will drive their intent on Saturday. It's Fotuali’i and Ford against Youngs and Burns, then elsewhere on the field you've got Watson, Joseph, Veainu, Mermoz, Pietersen... I'll stop because you get the picture! The set piece battle will be an intriguing watch and I'm expecting this to be an humdinger of a clash. Do Bath have the belief or will Leicester's experience count? Match Fact: Leicester have lost just one of their last four encounters with Bath in all competitions: 27-38 at the Recreation Ground in Round 22 last season.
At Sandy Park the Exeter Chiefs will be looking to continue their impressive Premiership form - they're unbeaten in the last eleven in the competition and have picked up a try bonus in their last five encounters. Conversely we all know the woes of Bristol Rugby and while it isn't mathematically certain that they won't be with us next season it would take something truly astonishing to see them stay up. I'm afraid to say that this could be a bit of a car crash of a fixture for the visitors if Exeter find their straps. We seen what the Chiefs can do to sides that are lacking in confidence and it's not pretty if you support that team. Personally I’m looking forward to seeing how Henry Slade steers the hosts around the park from ten becaue he’ll be eyeing a spot on the tour to Argentina this summer and will want to impress Eddie Jones from hereon in. Match Fact: The Chiefs have not lost at Sandy Park since Bordeaux-Begles were the visitors in Round 3 of the Champions Cup back at the end of November.
In the final kick-off on Saturday will be at Wembley where Saracens will be hosting their annual derby day against Harlequins. Mark McCall's side have played nine previous Premiership games at Wembley and they've won seven, drawn one and lost two. After the way in which the reigning domestic and European champions pushed aside Glasgow Warriors last weekend it going to have to take something pretty special from Harlequins to prevail. That said Wembley is a cracking venue and the 'visitors' must arrive without any apprehension and back themselves fully. All of that said in the form that Saracens are in I don't think that you can look past a home victory. Indeed, I think the only side that perhaps could beat Saracens right now is their Champions Cup semi-final opponents Munster but in terms of the Premiership I expect to them to provde to be too much for all to handle. Match Fact: Harlequins haven't done a season's double over Saracens since the 2008-9 season but after they caught their opponents cold in Round 4 they have the opportunity to so on Saturday. 
The only Sunday fixture will be at the Ricoh Arena where Wasps have to quickly bury the memories of last weekend with a big derby performance against Northampton Saints. Dai Young has changed his back line and rightly so, moving Jimmy Gopperth into the fly-half role and shifting Kurtley Beale to 12. As a whole they'll be itching to get onto the park after the woes of Dublin and I expect that they will hit the first 20 minutes as if their lives depend on it. In terms of Northampton, they've gained just two victories in their last five rounds of Premiership Rugby and haven't won successive away games in Premiership Rugby in the same season since 2014-15. However they've got experience in their ranks and like Harlequins at Wembley have to take plenty of belief on the road. I'm sure most will be interested to see how Tommy Taylor gets on against Dylan Hartley and alongside England's captain, George North and Courtney Lawes will want big performances to turn Warren Gatland's head. Match Fact: Wasps have won their last three matches against Northampton (two of those at Franklin's Gardens) while the Saints have lost on all three previous visits to Ricoh Arena.
Full Round 19 Schedule
Friday 7th April - Sale v Worcester - 7.45pm - BT Sport
Friday 7th April - Newcastle v Gloucester - 8pm
Saturday 8th April - Bath v Leicester (Twickenham) - 2pm - BT Sport
Saturday 8th April - Exeter v Bristol - 3pm
Saturday 8th April - Saracens v Harlequins (Wembley) - 4.30pm - BT Sport
Sunday 9th April - Wasps v Northampton - 3pm - BT Sport