Race for fourth place intensifies
A three-horse race for top spot, a four-way battle for relegation and a ferocious battle for fourth place, this all sounds very familiar. However, it was the Guinness Premiership which led to English rugby fans nervously nibbling on their fingernails rather than football’s Premier League, this weekend.
It seems to be an ongoing theme now: another weekend of matches played and very little comes closer to being resolved. With just three full rounds of matches left to be played of the campaign, though, all 12 teams are finally approaching the home straight.
The race for that all-important fourth place is really beginning to hot up. In the latest sequence of events, London Wasps re-leapfrogged London Irish by beating them at Adams Park to move three points behind Saracens. Wasps recorded a superb 33-22 victory over their rivals on Sunday afternoon, scoring four tries in the process. It proved an enthralling match and one which could go a long way to deciding who gets that final place in the play-offs.
Although a clearer image of the possible fourth-place team is beginning toemerge into focus; the battle for top spot remains as tense and unclear as before the weekend started.
Both Leicester Tigers and Northampton Saints held their nerve to record two vital victories. But it was a far more comfortable afternoon for Leicester as they destroyed Bath, 43-20, at Welford Road. A five-try rout of the mid-tablers secured the reigning champions a crucial bonus-point win. How important could that be in the build-up to the play-offs?
Northampton, meanwhile, faced a tricky encounter against the rejuvenated Leeds Carnegie at Headingly. With just three minutes left on the clock, it looked for all the world that Jim Mallinder’s side were about to wilt. The scoreboard read 7-7 and the Saints had failed to cross the line all afternoon. Desperate for a hero, one moment to keep their title challenge on course, Ben Foden provided the inspiration with a stunning last-gasp try to ensure Northampton remain firmly in the hunt for top spot. The final result, 14-7 to the visitors, and Northampton still have that crucial game in hand to their advantage.
After leading at half-time, Leeds will view this as a wasted opportunity to relieve their relegation concerns. As it stands, Andy Key’s men are still second to bottom of the league table, just three points from safety.
Disappointment may have set in this morning, but Leeds can take heart from the fact that there is one worse club than them in the league. Hammered 17-3 by Sale Sharks, Worcester Warriors are now in deep, deep trouble with only four matches left to play. Without a win since February, Worcester are still the favourites to return to the Championship after six tumultuous seasons in the top flight.
Following their mid-week win over Gloucester, Newcastle Falcons were presented with a glorious chance to haul themselves out of the relegation mire with a match against out-of-sorts Harlequins at the Stoop. While they may have fancied their chances before the match had commenced, they clearly hadn’t thought of a method to stop Quins’ fly-half Nick Evans. The All-Black scored all 23 points in the hosts’ 23-14 win against Newcastle to ensure they end the season comfortably in mid-table.
Meanwhile, Gloucester bounced back from their mid-week defeat against Newcastle with a dramatic 29-28 win over Saracens. The Sarries have now slipped further away from the top two with this latest defeat and on current form will struggle to progress to the play-off final at the end of the campaign.
The Guinness Premiership will now take a two-week break before the next full round of matches, and all 12 teams will need to conserve their energy to ensure they have enough in reserve for the final stretch of this intriguing series of battles.
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