Round Twenty One of the Aviva Premiership and both Saracens and Leicester Tigers slipped up. Neither caused any lasting problem as both are already in the play-offs and likely to have home games given the upcoming fixtures.
So the penultimate weekend opened with Tigers travelling to Bath and going down 27-26 in a rip roaring match that saw the scores see saw with the visitors holding the edge at the break 19-20 and then finally going down late on to a
Francois Louw try. Both sides had players moving on who still gave it their all as you would expect in this professional era. next up and to Gloucester where again the home side won it but only just 28-23. It was 18-13 at the break and ten points each in the second period could not get Sarries to close the gap. However the result was perhaps more important for Gloucester because until Saints won they still had a chance of fourth spot from the final games star man here on the score sheet was
Jonny May.
The rest of the fixtures went to plan, as first up London Irish saw off a spirited London Welsh 47-28. This was a much closer affair than the score suggests and at the break Welsh still had a chance at 19-15, before they ran out of steam and got bulldozed in the last twenty. Worcester Warriors were another who competed for a while and then haemorrhaged points as they went down 26-42 to Harlequins. 16-20 at the break they scored just ten second period points to Quins twenty two. Last up on Saturday and Northampton Saints tore strips of Sale Sharks as they won at a canter 47-7. It was 25-0 by the break and the fans revelled in some free flowing rugby to go with the forward grunt.
So to Sunday and Adams Park where so much was expected of London Wasps, but it was Exeter Chiefs who found their second wind and powered home 24-37. Wasps a shadow of the team they have been this term leaked simple tries as they went in to the break 10-20 behind and never looked like closing the gap. Chiefs look assured of Heineken Cup rugby next season whilst Wasps will look to beat Sale Sharks in the next game and end on a high.
So two wrong calls this week. Here are all the results:
Results Round Twenty One
Sat 20 Apr 14:15 Bath 27-26 Leicester Tigers Recreation Ground ESPN
Sat 20 Apr 15:00 Gloucester 28-23 Saracens Kingsholm
Sat 20 Apr 15:00 London Irish 47-28 London Welsh Madejski Stadium
Sat 20 Apr 15:00 Worcester Warriors 26-42 Harlequins Sixways
Sat 20 Apr 17:45 Northampton Saints 47-7 Sale Sharks Franklin’s Gardens Sky
Sun 21 Apr 14:00 London Wasps 24-37 Exeter Chiefs Adams Park ESPN
Last round of full games and some tough calls to make, here are our predictions as usual in bold:
Fixtures Round Twenty two
All times UK
Sat 04 May 14:30 Exeter Chiefs v Gloucester Sandy Park
Sat 04 May 14:30 Harlequins v Northampton Saints Twickenham Stoop
Sat 04 May 14:30 Leicester Tigers v London Irish Welford Road
Sat 04 May 14:30 London Welsh v Worcester Warriors Kassam Stadium
Sat 04 May 14:30 Sale Sharks v London Wasps Salford City Stadium
Sat 04 May 14:30 Saracens v Bath Allianz Park
Highlights itv4 Sunday 21:00 itv1 Mon 00:30 ESPN Monday 23:30