Aviva Premiership

Aviva Premiership relegation favourites Worcester suffered a survival hammer-blow at Sixways as Wasps stole an unlikely late win.

Welcome back to the Aviva Premiership! After all of the RBS 6 Nations and LV= Cup excitement of the past 3 weeks it is now the turn of the Premiership to provide more scintillating fixtures and nerve-wracking finishes.

Bath scrum-half Peter Stringer has signed a new one-year contract at the Recreation Ground.

How can I describe the Cherry and Whites season so far? Using many expletives is the answer. As a Gloucester Rugby fan I am used to being frustrated and underwhelmed but this season has been poor. At times it has been embarrassing and close to pathetic.

Leeds Carnegie have announced the signing of scrum half Chris Pilgrim, 28, and centre James Fitzpatrick, 26, on two year contracts from the 2014-15 season onwards from Aviva Premiership side Newcastle Falcons.

Over the festive season I travelled an hour up the road from my home to see my beloved Gloucester in action, against fellow strugglers London Irish. Putting aside a massively important win for the Cherry & Whites, I left feeling more than a little concerned for the Exiles.

Scotland playmaker Greig Laidlaw has completed a deal to join Gloucester next season, replacing Leicester-bound Freddie Burns as the Cherry and Whites' frontline fly-half.

Round 16 of the Aviva Premiership really did start with a bang as we witnessed one of the most physically brutal games that we have seen in this year’s campaign.

Leicester maintained their grip on fourth place in the Aviva Premiership with a bonus-point 41-18 win over Newcastle at Kingston Park.

Exeter Chiefs saw their run of five-straight defeats in the Aviva Premiership - their worst run in the competition - come to an end as they completed a season double over London Irish, who were denied a score for the first time this season in the 18-0 result.

Sale took a significant step towards European qualification by defeating Wasps 21-17 at Adams Park.

Scrum dominance sparked Northampton to a 39-13 bonus-point victory over Gloucester to extend their club-record unbeaten Aviva Premiership run to 13 games.

Saracens director of rugby Mark McCall hailed an "amazing" performance as a makeshift fly-half by England reserve full-back Alex Goode after his side crushed rivals Bath 23-10 at the Recreation Ground.

Worcester boss Dean Ryan has vowed that his team will "fight like mad" when their mission improbable for Aviva Premiership survival continues against Harlequins on Saturday.

Round 16 is here already - it seems like yesterday that we were discussing Round 1 and now there are only 7 short rounds (including this one) left before the knock out stages.

Chris Walker, the 22-year old Leeds Carnegie back-rower, former England Under 20s Captain and player tipped for big things in the English game has another accomplishment to add to his already impressive career – playing for Leeds alongside his younger brother Jack.

Leeds Carnegie have received a boost ahead of this Sunday's crucial Greene King IPA Championship clash with London Scottish at Headingley Carnegie with the signing of fly half Jonny Bentley on loan from Aviva Premiership side Gloucester until the end of the season.

Northampton Saints continued their winning run as full back James Wilson scored two first half tries against Newcastle Falcons in their Aviva Premiership clash at Kingston Park.

This weekend we were treated to 480 minutes of top quality Aviva Premiership Rugby… the matches were tense, the tries numerous and the hits were as hard as ever.

With a whole host of extremely exciting transfer news off the field, as well as some outstanding rugby on it, the Aviva Premiership really is the competition that just keeps on giving.