Guinness Premiership final weekend preview
After nine months, 21 rounds of matches and 252 games – this is it. The final weekend of the 2009/10 Guinness Premiership season is upon us.
It’s been a rollercoaster campaign, with matters at both the top and bottom of the league going right to the wire. However, with the relegation conundrum now resolved and three of the four play-off spots filled, the only thing left to play for this season is the race for fourth spot.
English football’s Premier League had its own highly-publicised duel for a top-four place earlier this week, and now it’s the Premiership’s turn on the last weekend of the regular season.
Bath are strong favourites to clinch the final play-off place this Sunday. Steve Meehan’s side are three points ahead of fifth-placed London Wasps, but will need to beat Leeds Carnegie to avoid any lingering nerves at the final whistle. Bath have home advantage, and should they finish the season in fourth, it will mark an incredible turnaround.
Both Wasps and London Irish were expected to finish above Bath at the end of the current campaign. Even as late as last month, it appeared that only those two clubs were in the running for fourth. However, the Recreation Ground outfit have hit form at just the right time. Victory this weekend will keep them in contention for the Premiership trophy.
There’s been a lot of activity in the north-east this week, as Newcastle Falcons sacked their director of rugby Steve Bates in a shake-up of the coaching staff. Alan Tait has now assumed head-coach duties at Kingston Park, and he revealed that there will be no new director of rugby at the club.
It’s been a largely disappointing campaign for the Falcons, who only survived relegation due to the awful form of Worcester Warriors and Sale Sharks. The new coaching staff will be in place for this Sunday’s match against Wasps, and they will be desperate to kick-start their reign – and end the season - with a home victory.
Wasps will, of course, be fighting tooth and nail for an away win. After all, it’s the only way they can keep their faint hopes of finishing inside the top four alive. Sunday’s match will be Danny Cipriani’s last in a Wasps jersey; but it looks distinctly unlikely that he will end his spell at the club with a Premiership winners’ medal.
If Wasps’ task of finishing fourth appears demanding, then London Irish’s seems almost insurmountable. They will take on second-placed Northampton Saints at the Madejski Stadium this weekend, knowing that only a huge slice of good fortune will see them leapfrog both Wasps and Bath.
World Cup hero Mike Catt will be playing the final match of his glittering playing career on Sunday. The Exiles’ versatile veteran announced his retirement on Tuesday after 18 years in the game, but he will stay on as the club’s attack coach. The 38-year-old won’t be prepared to bow out of the sport with a defeat, so this weekend’s clash in Reading will be a particularly special day for him.
Arguably the weekend’s most mouth-watering encounter will take place at Welford Road. The reigning champions – and the club who will finish the regular season at the top of the table – Leicester Tigers, will host fellow play-off semi-finalists, Saracens, on Sunday afternoon.
The Sarries have finally got their campaign back on track in recent weeks following a blip which threatened to keep them out of the top four. However, they have since secured a top-three finish, and could even finish the regular season in second with an away victory over the formidable Tigers.
Richard Cockerill’s men have again been the most consistent side throughout the current season and thoroughly deserve top spot. They have guaranteed themselves a home semi-final and will discover their opponents next week – not that they will be fazed by any of their potential opponents.
The atmosphere at Welford Road should be electric, which is a stark comparison to the expected despondent mood around Sixways - the home of Worcester Warriors.
The relegated side will take on Gloucester in their final Premiership match for at least 16 months with academy manager Andrew Stanley in charge of first-team duties. Director of rugby, Mike Ruddock, resigned from his post when Worcester’s relegation was confirmed, and the club have revealed that there has been worldwide interest in the vacant job. A new manager won’t be named before Sunday’s fixture, though.
Harlequins and Sale will contest the weekend’s only other match – but with nothing left to play for, this is a game which the neutral might be best advised to avoid. Quins will be gunning for revenge after Sale took the share of the spoils on New Year’s Day. It will also mark their first full season after last year’s notorious Bloogdate scandal, which is only just beginning to fade into the darkness.
With the play-off semi-finals due to commence a week on Sunday, there’s only one question left to be answered. Will it be Bath, London Wasps or London Irish, who accompany the top three in the final dash for the prestigious Premiership trophy?
Tags: