Friday
Bristol Rugby vs Doncaster Knights
Champions Bristol will meet with the side that made them Champions. Doncaster travel down to Ashton Gate having beaten Ealing Trailfinders convincingly in their last game 50-19.
Bristol also convincingly beat their opponents on their trip to Nottingham last Friday. Pat Lam will also be hoping to continue his good week. Being crowned champions on Saturday, being named Barbarians coach and getting former player John Muldoon to become defence coach next season.
You can catch this game live on Sky Sports from 19:30 and it would be a great idea to do so as it promises to be a high scoring affair.
Saturday
Rotherham Titans vs Yorkshire Carnegie
The prospect of a Yorkshire derby for Rotherham could be just what they need. The South Yorkshire side are propping up the table with a pretty somber ten points, fifteen adrift from their closest rivals.
Titans have already seen players leave. Toby Williams will be leaving the club after five years at the club, as will hooker Luke Cole who will be moving to Nottingham. And you can only expect that more players will be leaving.
Yorkshire don’t have much to play for other than pride. Placed sixth in the table with a points total of 55 points the Leeds based side will not be effected whether they win or lose.
Bedford Blues vs Cornish Pirates
Bedford pulled out a good performance to beat Hartpury College last time out. Now without much motivation following Bristol’s promotion, Bedford will just want to end the season strongly and start next season at the same intensity.
Their visitors will be coming across to Bedford from Penzance to try and secure fourth place in the table. Cornish have had a really impressive season when considering the amount of travelling that they have to do to get to away matches.
If the league wasn’t already over this would look like a great fixture. Third versus fourth is always an attractive prospect, unfortunately not in the case of this game.
Ealing Trailfinders vs Hartpury College
Ealing clearly have the future in mind with the announcement that Wasps back Guy Armitage and Harlequins centre Harry Sloan will be playing for the Londoners next season. With the rumour that Ealing are also interested in Wasps scrum-half Joe Simpson who is said to be unhappy in Coventry.
Their failure to gain promotion will only spur them on for the rest of this season as well as next season. They’ll be the ones to watch next season.
Hartpury will just be waiting for the end of the season. They compete in BUCS as well as providing players to Gloucester, and can’t be expected to successful in each competition that they compete in.
Jersey Reds vs Nottingham
Jersey will be wanting to bounce back after their loss in Leeds to Yorkshire Carnegie. Their loss meant that Cornish Pirates overtook them in the league. It was a surprise result to say the least that Jersey lost after they’ve been having such a strong season so far.
Nottingham will be disappointed after their resounding loss to Bristol on their home patch. Safe for next season it wouldn’t be a surprise if the players are just waiting for the new management team for next season.
Richmond vs London Scottish
In what is the all-Richmond Athletic Ground affair Richmond and London Scottish will be banking on their “rivalry” providing the motivation for fans and players.
Separated by nine points the sides had contrasting experiences on their last outings. Richmond lost resoundingly away to Cornish Pirates but will want to complete the double over their rivals on Saturday.
London Scottish got back to winning ways against Rotherham, beating them 49-14. Regardless, this will be a fiery affair with the two sides wanting to have bragging rights.
