Aviva Premiership preview: Gloucester v London Wasps
Any newcomers to the Aviva Premiership could be forgiven for thinking that Gloucester have been languishing towards the bottom of the top flight for years now.
But just two years ago, the Cherry and Whites finished top of the league at the end of the regular season – the third time they’d done so in the small space of five years.
How their fortunes have turned of late. Last season’s seventh-place finish was hugely disappointing for the Kingholm faithful, and so far this season their club have produced three relatively abject performances. Even their win over bottom side Leeds Carnegie was far from convincing.
This Saturday, Gloucestershire welcome London Wasps to Kingsholm, knowing that a win could put them in good stead for the rest of the season.
But their opponents will be full of confidence after their 37-30 victory over reigning champions, Leicester Tigers, last weekend. Fly-half Dave Walder was in outstanding form for Wasps against Leicester. The 32-year-old was assigned the unenviable task of emerging from Danny Cipriani’s shadow and has risen to the challenge at the start of this season. He has the ability to hurt an out-of-sorts Gloucester side, who currently sit 10th in the league table.
Meanwhile, second-place London Irish could move to the top of the league if they beat Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park and other results go their way. With two wins from their opening three matches, the Exiles look like genuine play-off contenders this season, as many pundits had predicted before the start of the campaign.
The experts had also tipped Newcastle to struggle this season – and even to suffer relegation come May. Away from home those predictions hadn’t appeared too far wide of the mark. Defeats against Sale Sharks and newly-promoted Exeter Chiefs were hardly morale-boosting results. Yet, on turf earlier this month, the Falcons managed to beat London Wasps in rather convincing fashion.
Should they produce a similarly impressive performance on Saturday, the Falcons could shirk off their status as potential relegation candidates.
Another club who’ll be desperate to move away from the bottom of the league table are Harlequins. Without a victory so far this season, it’s now crucial that they seal maximum points against Exeter this weekend.
The Premiership new boys have asserted themselves fantastically so far. No-one expected Rob Baxter’s side to beat Gloucester on the opening day of the season, few gave them a hope of holding their own against Leicester, and people were left surprised once again last weekend as they defeated Newcastle.
Quins haven’t looked particularly bad in their opening three matches. There’s little doubt they have the required quality to climb the league table, but another poor result against the Chiefs could really leave them with a mountain to climb in order to salvage something from the season.
Like Harlequins but on a lesser scale, Leicester Tigers have also endured a poor start to the season. It’s a rare sight to see Leicester in mid-table, but two defeats from their opening three matches means that they currently sit in seventh place.
Richard Cockerill’s men take on Leeds Carnegie at Welford Road and will be looking to rack-up a huge score against the Premiership stragglers.
Leeds have lost their last six Premiership encounters against Leicester, and it’s highly unlikely their luck will change on Saturday. The Headingley outfit came perilously close to relegation in the spring, as did Sale Sharks, who travel to the Recreation Ground to take on Bath this weekend.
Sale have started the season very well indeed with two wins under their belt already. A narrow victory against Harlequins last Friday night was nothing less than Mike Brewer’s side deserved, as they set their sights on breaking into the top four this weekend.
Standing in their way are Bath, who temporarily found themselves top of the league this month. However, they dropped to third place last Friday after being hammered by Northampton Saints at Franklin’s Gardens.
As it’s still very early in the campaign, it wouldn’t be a total disaster to Bath’s play-off hopes if they lose against Sale.
But as competition is so fierce this season, every point is more crucial than ever before, and they’ll do anything – within reason, of course – to ensure they take the share of the spoils this weekend.
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