Round Eighteen of the Premiership what a weekend, freezing cold and considering some good rugby played amongst the kicking battles. Just four more rounds till the business end of the season and just one wrong call by us as Harlequins were given a lesson by Saracens. hard to see Sarries not getting a home semi from here. few tight contests this week and important win for Sale Sharks.
The weekend opened as Sale on Friday night in the swirling snow as 6,500 hardy souls braved the conditions to see Sharks take the scalp of Bath 14-13. Sharks held a 9-3 lead at the break and went behind in the second period 9-10 before a crucial try saw them home.
Four games on Saturday and we opened with Gloucester taking the narrowest of wins against London Welsh 15-14, thanks to the boot of Freddie Burns. Welsh were the more adventurous and only try scorers in the dour struggle. Whilst this was on London Irish in front of almost 20,000 fans put on the magic seeing off Worcester Warriors challenge 26-6. It was 16-6 at the break and the only minus was that having taken three tries the Irish could not get the bonus one. Next up and London Wasps hosted Northampton Saints and given the pounding up front did well to only go down 24-26. This one was nip and tuck throughout and turned round at 16-19 in the snow. Saturday evening and Exeter Chiefs hosted Leicester Tigers in a drab 9-12 loss. This was tied at 9-9 at the break and a single Toby Flood penalty in the second period proved the difference.
Sunday and we had the ding dong that was Saracens versus Harlequins.
We expected a tight game but as it turned out Quins had now answers to the power of Saracens going down 27-12. Things were looking ominous at the break as Sarries had run out to 17-9 ahead and although Quins pummelled the home line in the last ten minutes they never looked to have enough to cause and problem even against fourteen men. So the pressure is mounting on Harlequins to stay in contention for a home semi.
So one wrong call this week as we thought Harlequins would make up for last weeks poor showing but Saracens had other ideas. Here are all the results:
Results Round Eighteen
Fri 22 Mar 20:00 Sale Sharks 14-13 Bath Salford City Stadium
Sat 23 Mar 15:00 Gloucester 15-14 London Welsh Kingsholm
Sat 23 Mar 15:00 London Irish 26-6 Worcester Warriors Madejski Stadium
Sat 23 Mar 15:15 London Wasps 24-26 Northampton Saints Adams Park Sky
Sat 23 Mar 17:00 Exeter Chiefs 9-12 Leicester Tigers Sandy Park ESPN
Sun 24 Mar 14:00 Saracens 27-12 Harlequins Allianz Park ESPN
Some tough calls this week, but here are our predictions as usual in bold:
Fixtures Round Ninteen
All times UK
Fri 29 Mar 19:45 Gloucester v Harlequins Kingsholm ESPN
Sat 30 Mar 14:15 Bath v London Welsh Recreation Ground
Sat 30 Mar 15:00 London Wasps v Saracens Adams Park
Sat 30 Mar 15:00 Northampton Saints v Leicester Tigers Franklin’s Gardens Sky
Sat 30th Mar 15:00 Worcester Warriors v Exeter Chiefs Sixways
Sun 31st Mar 14:15 London Irish v Sale Sharks Madejski Stadium ESPN
Highlights itv4 Sunday 21:00 itv1 Mon 00:30 ESPN Monday 23:30