Aviva Premiership: Round 5 Preview - Final foray before Europe

Round 6 is the last domestic hoorah before our Aviva Premiership sides head into the gruesome European back to back fixtures.

After 5 challenging rounds some sides are in exactly the position that they’d want to be while others still have a spot of work to do.

The round kicks off at Kingsholm where Gloucester Rugby have an important match against the Sale Sharks. After a more promising start to the year the Cherry and Whites have stuttered and had a tough Round 5 at Franklin’s Gardens. Interestingly David Humphreys has showed faith in that side and has made just one change with Sione Kalamafoni replacing Ben Morgan at number eight. Sale have made three changes to the team that hosted Newcastle at home with Josh Beaumont, Peter Stringer and Nev Edwards coming in the side. Steve Diamond didn’t hide his displeasure at their 15-15 Round 5 draw and I expect that the Sharks will be heading to Kingsholm with fire in their bellies, eager to impress and appease their head coach.

Saturday’s order of play starts with a South West London derby as Harlequins will host London Irish at the Twickenham Stoop. The form book dictates that this should be a home victory however London Irish showed great strides of improvement in Round 5. Conor O’Shea has made four personnel changes with Ollie Lindsay-Hague starting on the wing, Dave Ward returning to Hooker and Adam Jones and Luke Wallace returning to the XV. This weekend Tom Coventry has mixed things up in order to ‘give individuals opportunities’ and that includes Canadian International, Ciaran Hearn, who will make his club debut. In the Premiership London Irish haven’t beaten Quins at the Stoop since the days of Mike Catt, Steffon Armitage and Nick Kennedy and their memorable 17-0 semi-final victory back in 2009. 

The second Saturday offering is at Sixways where the Worcester Warriors will welcome the Leicester Tigers to town. After a tough day at the Twickenham office last week my hope is that the Warriors' Premiership confidence hasn't been dented. The Tigers will arrive with a spring in their step after getting one over the side that they hate to lose to, Bath. The home side will need to be at their physical best against a Tigers team that welcome back Vereniki Goneva and Owen Williams to the starting XV. Without question this will be a stiff test of the Warriors’ impeccable home record; Dean Ryan’s side have lost only one of their last 22 home games at Sixways in all competitions.

One of the most intriguing matches of the weekend will take place at The Recreation Ground between Bath Rugby and the Northampton Saints. Both aren’t running at their full potential yet, particularly in Bath’s case, and both simply have to record result this weekend to put themselves in a positive position in the table. Bath will be greatly boosted by Jonathan Joseph returning from injury, much earlier than expected, and Chris Cook is given the nod at nine. The clash of the packs will be enthralling for both have taken other teams to the cleaners in recent weeks and the individual head to head  between Kieran Brookes and Nick Auterac should be a great watch for Eddie Jones! Northampton are unbeaten in their last eight Premiership Rugby encounters against Bath however are missing Courtney Lawes, Dylan Hartley and Calum Clark for this trip. Bath haven’t lost back to back fixtures at the Rec since March 2014 however the Saints will fancy their chances on the road.

The final game on Saturday afternoon is at the Ricoh Arena between Wasps and the Exeter Chiefs. My great hope is that the conditions are dry so that both sides can really open up and show us what they are made of. Their respective backlines speak for themselves, Exeter are the top try scorers after the opening five rounds and Wasps’ backs have been shifting through the gears week on week. Dai Young’s side are without James Haskell who has a shoulder injury however their supporters will look forward to Alapati Leiua entering off the bench after his knee surgery. Don Armand and Dave Ewers are both missing for the Chiefs however their replacements are highly experienced men in the form of Tom Johnson and Julian Salvi. This one should have it all and be one of the clashes of the weekend.

On Sunday Kingston Park will open its doors to finish the round as the Newcastle Falcons will host Saracens. Last weekend the Falcons will have been pleased to get off the mark in terms of table points and their key positives from Round 5 were a much stronger defensive display and the work of their forwards. That said Saracens are an altogether different prospect and their imperious five from five domestic form speaks for itself. With respect to the Falcons I can only see this match going one way for at this moment in time Saracens are ruthless in defence and looking extremely positive in attack.