Aviva Premiership - Round 20 Preview

First topic message reminder :

Just 3 rounds to go and, Gloucester aside, clubs are nor concentrating only on this.

Positions:

Saints 67pts
Saracens 61pts
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Bath 61pts
Exeter 58pts
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Leicester 55pts
Wasps 53pts
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Sale 48pts
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Quins 43pts
Gloucester 38pts
Irish 37pts
Falcons 26pts
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Welsh 1 point



Fixtures:


Fri 24th Apr 15

19:45 Bath   v   London Irish BT Sport
Bath host their feeder club in the opening fixture of Round 20. On paper they have the easiest run-in of the top clubs, but their set piece will have to perform better than it did in Newcastle and Dublin if they are to cash in fully. Irish have little to play for other than pride and their form has been hot and miss. Bath should have the form and the class to win at a canter. An upset may be too much to ask for, but the other teams vying for a home play-off semi will hope Irish can defend stoutly and deny Bath a TBP.



Sat 25th Apr 15

14:00 Sale Sharks v   Harlequins
Not the sort of fixture that a stuttering Quins team will be relishing. If they are to have any realistic chance of making the Champions Cup (via play-off) they simply have to win this match. The last thing quins needed was to be struggling with injuries. they will need every ounce of effort and inspiration they can get from Robshaw and Care to stand any chance.

15:00 Gloucester  v   Newcastle Falcons
Gloucester will be focussing on next week, Falcons on next season. For any at the game I hope this means they have an entertaining one.

15:00 Leicester      v   London Welsh
Leicester struggled to get the four tries at the Kassam earlier. Surely they will find it easier at home?

15:15 Northampton v   Saracens BT Sport
Huge, possibly season defining, fixture. Saints looked nailed on for top spot in the table when the 6 nations ended. after two thumpings, confidence will not be high and defeat to the team they beat in last years final will suddenly have them worrying about facing an away semi. Mallinder and Doreen gave the guys a week off and will hope the batteries have been recharged. Biggest worry for Saints has been the poor form of their biggest names. Corbisiero and Hartley are struggling, while Manoa has been off colour. Throw in misfiring half backs and centres and it has been a struggle. The last team they would wish to face in this state are Sarries - who will be buoyed by this fixture being at a "neutral" venue. Performance wise Sarries have been a shadow of their Barnet selves away from home, but in general have found a way to win. Unless Saints can rerun to something approximating to their early season form the Sarries juggernaut should prevail.


Sun 26th Apr 15

14:00 Wasps  v   Exeter BT Sport

With consecutive home matches against the two teams directly above them, Wasps are still masters of their own destiny. Win both and Wasps could find themselves back in the Top 4. Exeter need to put any Challenge Cup disappointment firmly behind them. With two tricky away fixtures in a row (Sarries next week) they could find themselves dropping from 4th to 6th before the final round. Both sides like to throw the ball around, so this has all the makings of a classic. Probably instead we will get a nervy penalties only game.

Dear god the Tiger game is a yawn fest ATM.

I give up shocking!

Bizarre that both saints and Sarries are in their change strips today! Which ironically actually makes them harder to distinguish...

Ours is fantastic! Playing some lovely stuff, 13-27 at HT to Falcons.

Pack is going really well, Lawson fantastic. Socino looking good and Clegg having his best game in a while. I hope we can keep it up in the 2nd.

Not bad at all. See how we go the second half.

Sadly not surprised that no YC for Manoa's shoulder charge on Billy.

Just watching Jackson Wray knocked out cold in the Saracens match.

I know we are paying more attention to concussions, but I'd be interested to know whether there the incidence has increased, because I can't recall games being held up anything like as much before.

Saints kit is awful!

I see Leicester are only just beating welsh

Nasty one for Wray complete freak off his own player.

And that's why Twelvetrees should never be in Englands squad ever again!

And yet another schoolboy pass by Twelvetrees....dear me.

Another cheap shot by Saints this time by Ma afu on De Kock.

Some performance from Falcons.

You can see why May & Twelvetrees aren't starting for England.

Saints lucky there, it wasn't taken from the correct spot

Oh for gods sake

Judging from today Barritt aint getting the place either.

Yeah 12 is a worry.

How on earth is Eric Fry a premiership rugby player....its beyond me.

ANd how on earth can we be in the position where we can lose this game!!??

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Some performance from Falcons.

You can see why May & Twelvetrees aren't starting for England.

From the stats May lasted 8 minutes. Did he manage to mess something up in that time?

Burrell has played really well though bar a long pass to touch so it aint all bad.

THe thing about Burrell is he's looked better at 13 in an England shirt.

Losing the territory and possession battle at the moment.

Important last quarter.

FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How on Earth have we lost that game!!!!!!!

ANd if I was Dean Richards I would tear up Frys contract straight away.

Scrum cost us again at the end. Great performance though and cracking game. Clegg was immense which I can't believe I'm saying.

GeordieFalcon wrote:FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How on Earth have we lost that game!!!!!!!

You lost because you had fewer points.

Just sayin'

Penalty machine is on - Gill and unsurprisingly a penalty is given.

Problem is you have a penalty machine on at LH and a TH playing his first game in a few months.

doctor_grey wrote:

GeordieFalcon wrote:FFS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

How on Earth have we lost that game!!!!!!!

You lost because you had fewer points.

Just sayin'

Saints getting the rub of the green in this match, missed forward passed, in at the side

nathan wrote:Saints getting the rub of the green in this match, missed forward passed, in at the side

Is the Saints-Sarries match being televised?

doctor_grey wrote:

nathan wrote:Saints getting the rub of the green in this match, missed forward passed, in at the side

Is the Saints-Sarries match being televised?

Yeah, bt sport

True nathan but to be fair to Saints they've been better in the 2nd half than Saracens.

I just can't see Saracens winning unless they can create something special. Unfortunately unlikely.

beshocked wrote:True nathan but to be fair to Saints they've been better in the 2nd half than Saracens.

I just can't see Saracens winning unless they can create something special. Unfortunately unlikely.

They deserve it but I hate seeing things missed just for one side

How many off their feet!

Nathan looks like Austin agrees. Certainly with that last penalty anyhow.

nathan wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

nathan wrote:Saints getting the rub of the green in this match, missed forward passed, in at the side

Is the Saints-Sarries match being televised?

Yeah, bt sport

Bloody television contract here in America. Not being showed live. Don't the Ynaks realise this is important?
Any kind people with a link of some kind?
I know it's almost over.

Just think he's being a bit harsh on sarries, it's not like I want sarries to win either (from a tigers PoV)

Waller completely off his feet

Then a saints players 2 meters offside at the end there!

nathan wrote:Then a saints players 2 meters offside at the end there!

It's OK though. They didn't mean it, I am sure.

doctor_grey wrote:

nathan wrote:Then a saints players 2 meters offside at the end there!

It's OK though.  They didn't mean it, I am sure.

Eh?

nathan wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

nathan wrote:Then a saints players 2 meters offside at the end there!

It's OK though.  They didn't mean it, I am sure.

Eh?

joking with you.

doctor_grey wrote:

nathan wrote:

doctor_grey wrote:

nathan wrote:Saints getting the rub of the green in this match, missed forward passed, in at the side

Is the Saints-Sarries match being televised?

Yeah, bt sport

Bloody television contract here in America.  Not being showed live.  Don't the Ynaks realise this is important?  
Any kind people with a link of some kind?
I know it's almost over.

If you join bet365 and keep £5 in your account, you can stream all AP games live.

I didn't know that Sgt....ill give it a shot.

I thought that is what you used Geordie. Only issue is it's a small screen but a decent feed nevertheless. It's a life saver for me in the Middle East.

I use VIP box. But lately its not been the best.

I see on the unoffy they thought the scrums were good.

Scrum went ok till Fry came on, did well in the 1st half.

Can't fault Bet365 mate, has every game on too.

Thanks for the info gents. Apreciated.

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Some performance from Falcons.

You can see why May & Twelvetrees aren't starting for England.

What a bizarre statement! May went off concussed very early on and did absolutely nothing wrong. You don't have an axe to grind do you Poorly??

Glaws were awful for 67 minutes then finally started to play. Not the best warm up for next week especially losing May, Kalamafoni and Murphy to injury. Full credit to Falcons who really came to play rugby and Ive never seen Clegg play that well.

yappysnap wrote:Slight surprise in the Sale v Quins game..

HT and its 6-22 Quins already have the tbp with Walker, Yarde, Robshaw and Care dotting down.

What a difference George Lowe makes!!

TBP win....looked better than we have in a while....although the scrum was demolished again.

I used a few choice words in the last few minutes though, what on earth were they doing? Looked like they were trying to lose it!

Poorly?

I thought May was on longer but was poor from the off tbh.