Hands up, who’s missed club rugby, then? The Guinness Premiership is back after the annual Six Nations interlude – and rapidly approaching the end of the current campaign.
There are now just another four weekends of full fixtures before the semi-finals commence in mid-May and it’s proving to be one of the tightest finishes in Premiership history at both ends of the table.
At the top, Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints are battling it out for the coveted top spot. With just two points in it, and Northampton consistently laying down their credentials as potential champions, the Tigers know they must beat the league’s bottom side, Worcester Warriors, on Saturday afternoon to retain first place.
The Saints, meanwhile, have a mouth-watering game against London Wasps later on Saturday afternoon – a match which will be played in front of the Sky Sports cameras at Franklin’s Gardens.
After winning the LV= Cup with a thrilling victory over Gloucester last weekend, Jim Mallinder’s side will be full of confidence coming into this fixture. It’s been a superb season for everyone associated with the Saints, and they are now bearing down on their first Premiership trophy.
But if the race for the title doesn’t provide enough excitement to whet your appetite, then the challenge to avoid the dreaded drop certainly will. For the majority of the season, Leeds Carnegie looked doomed - quite how they’ve managed to worm their way out of that predicament is a mystery. Even up until the new year, Leeds had only won two matches all season. But that all changed in February.
After a shock 19-10 win against Sale Sharks, Leeds’ director of rugby, Andy Key, hoped that this would provide a “springboard” for Premiership survival. Perhaps only he could have envisaged the impact that particular win would have on the rest of their season, then.
If you placed a wager on London Wasps and then Saracens to lose to Leeds in consecutive weeks before the start of 2010, there’s a good chance you’re reading this from the comfort of a Caribbean yacht with a glass of chilled bubbly at hand.
OK, so maybe that’s a little far-fetched, but nevertheless it was still a huge shock.
Leeds are now level on points with Sale and have given themselves real hope of survival, but face a huge test this Saturday against LV= Cup finalists, Gloucester, at Kingsholm. In their last home match, the Cherry and Whites destroyed Sale, 47-3, in one of the most one-sided results of the season.
Whether Key’s men can avoid a similar hammering remains a doubt despite their impressive recent form; but rest assured, every neutral will be willing Leeds to continue their miraculous escape from the clutches of relegation.
The league’s bottom side, Worcester, have the toughest task of all, though. Hosting Leicester Tigers is rarely a particularly enjoyable experience for any Premiership side; and the Warriors will have the pleasure this Saturday.
The Warriors are still desperate to seal their fourth win of the campaign to lift themselves off the foot of the table, but even the man currently getting a suntan on that Caribbean yacht will want to avoid this one on his betting slip this weekend.
Elsewhere, fellow relegation-threatened clubs Newcastle and Sale will be in action against Saracens and London Irish, respectively, over the course of the weekend.
On the face of it, the bottom four sides will struggle to amass any points between them over Saturday and Sunday.
But if the Guinness Premiership has taught us any lessons this season, it’s not to presume that anything will definitely happen. You’ll only be proven wrong.
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