Aviva Premiership 2014/15 Round 8 Preview

The next stop on the Aviva Premiership journey takes us to Round 8 and the second and penultimate round of this Autumn International Window. Last weekend witnessed Leicester push Saracens all the way, Bath continue to shine even without some key men and the Sale Sharks take their performance level up a gear and this weekend they’ll be many more talking points.

The first match of the weekend beings tonight, underneath the Friday Night Lights at The Twickenham Stoop. Harlequins showed strong character to grind out their win over Gloucester last Friday and Conor O’Shea has shown faith in this side to do the same this week with only Tom Casson coming back into the side as George Lowe continues a gradual return to rugby after his long term neck injury. The Sale Sharks turned their dial up a notch against London Irish and will breeze into town tonight confident and settled in their systems. The breakdown battle will be fascinating with strong two back rows and the Evans versus Cipriani showdown will be mesmeric. Expect a tight one at The Stoop that involves some flowing rugby, should be weather gods continue to smile upon us.   

Approximately 275 miles away another set of Friday Night Lights will be in use as the Newcastle Falcons’ welcome David Humphreys’ Gloucester. After spending the whole of last season looking over their shoulder in relegation fear the Newcastle Falcons now have a spot of breathings pace with London Welsh’s form and they must make the most of it and start to build and develop as a side. In order to be competitive this weekend Newcastle must bring their scrum to the table, it is the responsibility of Rob Vickers, Scott Lawson and Oliver Tomaszczyk to front up against Yann Thomas, Darren Dawidiuk and John Afoa because their backs need the front foot ball. The Cherry and Whites will be anxious to get back on a rugby field to ‘right their wrongs’ of Round 7 for they gifted Harlequins a path back into the game. Billy Burns starts at 10 due to Club Captain Twelvtrees being called up for England and Steve McColl replaces Rob Cook who sadly dislocated his shoulder against Harlequins. Gloucester should travel well if they play with confidence and conviction come away with 4 points.

When Exeter Chiefs blew away London Welsh in Round 1 and followed it up by pushing a fully fit Leicester Tigers side all the way you knew that something special was happening at Sandy Park and since then they have continued to shine. Baxter and his men are delivering in all areas and this is what will make this match against Wasps so fascinating. Wasps hit another gear last weekend against the aforementioned London Welsh; they were totally ruthless and relentless in their pursuit of victory. With James Haskell on England duty Chris Bell captains the side from inside centre and Ashley Johnson, Sam Jones and Nathan Hughes take charge in the back row. Both sides will deliver intensity and rugby of the highest order, expect sparks to fly this weekend at Sandy Park.

At the Madjeski Stadium London Irish need to up their game in order to compete with Bath Rugby, for their performance against Sale in Round 7 won’t cut the mustard. They are boosted by the return of Shane Geraghty, Scott Steele and Conor Gilsenan and focus and intensity will be their buzz words going into the game. Last weekend Bath showed that Mike Ford is developing a rock solid rugby club for even without their England stars they excelled. This weekend both Kyle Eastmond and Semesa Rokoduguni return from England duty, Kyle after his graduate return to play [concussion protocol] and Semsea, slightly controversially, as many believed him to be injured. They take their place in a tremendous back line with Gavin Henson, Jonathan Joseph and Matt Bananhan to name just a few. Matt Garvey returns for his first start since pre-season after his injury and all in all Irish will have their work cut out on home soil.

The first of the Sunday matches is at Allianz Park where Saracens host the Northampton Saints. When these two sides meet, with a full complement of personnel, it is always a humdinger of a fixture and that will remain the case without both side’s Internationals. Northampton had a bad day at the office last weekend and they’ll be eager to erase those memories with a solid performance led by Captain Phil Dowson and Samu Manoa in the back row. Saracens’ time at Welford Road wasn’t pretty and they will also have had a fairly heated analysis session on Monday for they didn’t reach the standards they expect of themselves. Both sides will have their tails up and in North London it will be one heck of a battle.

Of all of the losses that London Welsh have had to deal with this year last weekend’s slaughtering by Wasps was perhaps the toughest. The manner in which they were taken apart became difficult to watch, even I expect for Wasps fans. Justin Burnell has praised his players’ resilience saying “You have to admire our players and the environment. The players were in on Monday, identifying the faults and working hard eradicate them, while as coaches we constantly keep looking for ways to improve.” Personnel wise Opeti Fonua will make his first start for the club and the experienced Gordon Ross comes in to sure things up at fly half.  In Round 7 the Leicester Tigers showed a spot of grit and determination to stay in touch with Saracens in difficult conditions. Tommy Bell comes in at Full Back after impressing off the bench last weekend and Adam Thompstone returns for his first Premiership start of the season on the wing. The game is pretty well timed for the Tigers to consolidate their form and press on whilst Welsh must find the super human strength to pick themselves back up after being so comprehensively beaten up.