Gallagher Premiership - Round Four Preview
Newcastle Falcons kick off Round Four when they host early league leaders Exeter on Friday
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The Gallagher Premiership season has well and truly clicked into gear after three enthralling rounds of action and Joe Harvey looks ahead to another exciting weekend of entertainment.
Friday
Newcastle Falcons vs Exeter Chiefs
For their first home game since the Premiership’s opening fixture, the Falcons’ challenge on Friday evening couldn’t be tough after claiming their maiden win of the season last weekend.
Table-toppers Exeter have had the perfect start to the campaign so far with three bonus point victories against Leicester, Wasps and Sale.
However, Falcons won their last encounter against Chiefs at Kingston Park earlier on this year. The 28-20 victory for the home side will be best remembered for Sinoti Sinoti’s sublime try in which the Samoan beat numerous players to score.
Both sides have made changes ahead of this game. For Chiefs, Matt Kvesic and Sam Simmonds come back into the side, recovering from the illness that kept them out against Sale last weekend. Ollie Devoto drops out of the squad entirely, being replaced by Ian Whitten.
Jack Nowell doesn’t play on artificial surfaces; therefore, this allows Alex Cuthbert to make a start after his try scoring display from the bench last weekend. Ben Moon comes into the impressive squad to start at loosehead prop, meaning that Alec Hepburn is on the bench.
Falcons drop the impressive Sami Mavinga in favour of former Ormskirk and Durham University player Adam Brocklebank. Mark Wilson moves to number eight, taking over from Callum Chick and Gary Graham takes Wilson’s number six shirt as Will Welch retains the seven jersey.
In the backs, Falcons remain pretty much the same. The only changes come on the wing as Adam Radwan and Sinoti Sinoti both drop out of the side and Dean Richards brings in Alex Tait and Tom Arscott.
Going into the game, it is difficult to see anything other than an Exeter win. Their perfect start to the season is in stark comparison to Falcons as the Chiefs aim for win number four.
Saturday
Bristol Bears vs Harlequins
Bristol haven’t beaten Quins in over 12 years, but coming into Saturday’s game, the omens look promising for Pat Lam’s Bears.
Both sides have won one game and lost two this season. The main difference is that Paul Gustard’s Harlequins have had close matches, meaning that they’ve picked up losing bonus points which gives them eight points coming into the fourth round.
On the other hand, Bristol have had two successive defeats, sobering the side following their opening day victory against Bath.
What Brisol do have in their favour is that Quins haven’t won on the road since last November. This bodes well for Pat Lam’s men as their only win this term has come at home and the club have said that they intend to make Ashton Gate a fortress in the Premiership.
Neutrals will want to see Bristol press on from their opening day victory at Ashton Gate with another home victory against opposition who don’t enjoy travelling outside of Twickenham.
Sale Sharks vs Wasps
Both of these sides have had indifferent starts to the season thus far. Wasps have won two and lost just the one and Sale have had a heavy loss away to Harlequins, an unconvincing win at home over Worcester and another defeat on the road against Exeter.
Wasps looked much better with Lima Sopoaga at fly-half as the All Black slipped in seamlessly in last weekend’s victory at home to Leicester. That said, none of Wasps’ victories have been convincing as of yet.
As for Sale, they still haven’t sprung into life. Their only victory of the season against Worcester was a dull affair to say the least, but if they get the win the quality of rugby doesn’t matter.
It seems that the form book may decide this one. Wasps haven’t won away to Sale since 2010 and one of Sale’s biggest prides is their ability to grind out a victory at home.
Bath Rugby vs Northampton Saints
Bath carried on their indifferent start to the season with an impressive victory away at Harlequins. The 32-37 victory at the Stoop was a remarkably better performance than their previous two, and hopefully can mean a good result this weekend at the Rec.
Joe Cokanasiga put in one of the best performances that we have seen from a winger in recent times. However, Bath will be without the superb Jamie Roberts who sustained a fractured cheekbone that will keep him out for four to six weeks.
Northampton on the other hand did have a solid game in their loss to Saracens at Franklin’s Gardens last time out. Piers Francis and Dan Biggar have been linking up well so far as their partnership continues to grow, even if Biggar hasn’t been firing on all cylinders as of yet.
The main task for Bath is to make sure that they get back to winning ways at the Rec. Their only game at their home ground so far resulted in a draw with Gloucester, when the home side were winning until the death.
Sunday
Saracens vs Gloucester Rugby
This is probably the game of the weekend. Both sides have had positive starts to the season thus far.
Gloucester have really pressed on from last season with Danny Cipriani in the 10 shirt. Cipriani will have a lot to prove this weekend especially after being left out of the England training squad because ‘his club form has not been good enough’, according to boss Eddie Jones.
The former Sale and Wasps man will be wanting to prove Jones wrong against the likes of Owen Farrell at the Allianz.
Gloucester must be wary this weekend though. Saracens have scored four or more tries in their last nine games and have a total of 15 points from a possible 15 from their three games so far this season.
The try scoring exploits of Alex Lewington and David Strettle have contributed to Sarries’ early season charge and fans present at the Allianz will be hoping to see their stars in action after a hard-fought victory last week at Northampton.
As it is with Saracens, especially at home, you can’t look much further than them.
Leicester Tigers vs Worcester Warriors
Leicester have been making headlines after every round of the Premiership so far. Sacking head coach Matt O’Connor after the opening weekend was followed by a much-improved performance in Round Two before and a controversial red card last Sunday.
Worcester are the only side not to have won this season, so, unfortunately, it seems that the result is already set in stone for the Warriors. This is a shame as Worcester seemed to have built really well in the off-season and showed all the signs of progressing this year.
Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to have happened and they come up against a rejuvenated Leicester side starting to flourish under Geordan Murphy. George Ford and Manu Tuilagi have sprung into life since O’Connor’s departure and look set to push on.
Both of these players have been included in Eddie Jones’ England training squad, so Leicester won’t have them for too much longer with the Autumn Internationals approaching quickly.
It’s really difficult to see past Leicester this weekend. Worcester seemingly have little confidence so this is a great opportunity for the Tigers to push on in their quest to get in the top four.
