Preview: Guinness Premiership, Rd Nine
The autumn international season has just one more round of fixtures to run and our attention is once again being quickly drawn to the Guinness Premiership with Round Nine's fixtures serving up a couple exciting battles.
Table-topping Saracens remain unbeaten in the English top-flight but this weekend face a tricky trip to the Sixways stadium.
The round of fixtures, which is split with three on Friday and three on Satruday, kicks off at Edgeley Park with London Wasps taking on a resurgent Sale Sharks.
Welford Road will welcome back one of its greatest sons this weekend as well with Leeds Carnegie head coach Neil Back returning to the club where he starred for so many years.
Sure to receive a warm reception from the home crowd, Back will be hoping his troops can cause a serious upset and claw themselves up off the bottom of the Premiership log for the first time this season.
Friday, 27 November
Sale Sharks v London Wasps (19.45 GMT) (19.45 local) - Edgeley Park -
Sale have won three of their last four encounters with Wasps, whilst the Londoners have not tasted victory at Edgeley Park since a 27-25 win on 25 March 2005.
Sale Sharks have now secured back to back victories in the Guinness Premiership, over Gloucester and Leeds. The Sharks have won their last three matches at Edgeley Park in all competitions since London Irish won there, 11-8, in the Premiership on 2 October.
London Wasps have slipped to successive defeats in the Guinness Premiership, against Leeds and Saracens. Wasps have won two of their last three away matches in the Premiership, the reversal being 16-28 at London Irish on 27 September.
Both teams will be full of confidence but the return of Simon Shaw and Tim Payne will be a massive boost for Wasps. Obviously Joe Worsley didn't make it back to camp in one piece but Sale's pack could struggle this weekend.
rugby365 Prediction: The Edgeley Park draught is over... Wasps by eight.
Newcastle Falcons v Northampton Saints (20.00 GMT)(20.00 Local) - Kingston Park -
Newcastle have won their last three encounters with Northampton, whilst the Saints only victory at Kingston Park in their last six visits since 2001 was 32-13 on 26 March 2006.
Newcastle Falcons have now recorded three successive victories in the Guinness Premiership, against Bath, Worcester and London Irish. The Falcons only win in the Premiership at Kingston Park this season came last time out, 14-3, against Worcester.
Northampton Saints have won their last three matches in all competitions since their 15-29 defeat at Leicester in the Guinness Premiership on 31 October. The Saints only away victory in the Premiership this campaign came at Gloucester on 19 September.
Newcastle's victory last weekend over the Exiles will have been a massive boost for them but they continue to struggle to score tries.
The Saints meanwhile are slowly getting back to full strength and rarely fail to put points on the board.
rugby365 Prediction: Jimmy Gopperth penalties will not be enough for the Falcons - Saints by nine.
Worcester Warriors v Saracens (20.00 GMT)(20.00 Local) - Sixways -
Worcester's 22-8 defeat of Saracens the last time they met ended a three game losing run against the Fez boys. In five previous visits to Sixways, Saracens have won on two occasions.
Worcester Warriors are winless in their last four encounters in the Guinness Premiership since their 24-18 victory at home to Sale on 26 September. The Warriors' only home defeat in their last four Premiership games at Sixways was 22-26 to Harlequins on 24 October.
Saracens are still going strong at the top of the Guinness Premiership table with a perfect eight wins from eight matches, although this is despite scoring just 13 tries so far and they are yet to record a bonus point. Sarries' last away loss in the Premiership was 18-33 at Bath on 25 April.
Under-fire England captain Steve Borthwick is back in domestic action this week and will be looking to take out some frustrations on the Warriors.
Worcester though will not be an easy nut to crack for the high-flying Premiership log-leaders. A happy camp, a number of their players have recently committed their futures to the team and will be looking to put on a great show in front of their home fans this weekend.
rugby365 Prediction: This fixture has all the makings of a Warriors win but Saracens have not got to where they are by luck - their commitment will be enough to sneak them home again. Sarris by four.
Saturday, 28 November
Harlequins v Gloucester (15:00 GMT) (15:00 local) - The Stoop -
The last four clashes between the two teams have all been won by the home side on the day, whilst Gloucester's most recent victory at the Stoop was 31-21 in the Premiership on 9 September 2006
Harlequins only win in their last four matches in all competitions was 19-8 at Newcastle in the LV= Cup. Quins have drawn their last two encounters at the Twickenham Stoop: 9-all against London Irish in the Guinness Premiership and 15-all against Scarlets in the Anglo-Welsh tournament.
Gloucester Rugby's 12-9 victory at home to Leicester on Friday night ended a six game losing run in all competitions. Gloucester's only win on the road in any competition in their last 13 matches was 26-10 at Leeds in the Guinness Premiership on 4 October.
Bryan Redpath has had to endure a torrid start to his Director of Rugby role with injuries and suspensions being particularly brutal on him.
Quins' problems of course are very well documented but, at home, will be targeting a big win this weekend.
rugby365 Prediction: Tough one to call. Gloucester unfortunately just seem to have a problem to many. Harlequins by seven.
Leicester Tigers v Leeds Carnegie (15.00 GMT) (15.00 local) - Welford Road -
Leeds beat Leicester 28-17 three weeks ago at Headingley in the LV= Cup, but have lost on all seven previous visits to Welford Road in all competitions.
Leicester Tigers' most recent reversal at fortress Welford Road was on 26 September 2008 when London Wasps were the visitors in the Guinness Premiership. The Tigers have now gone a compete season (22 matches) gaining at least one match point from every game: the last time they ended up with no points was in the 13-27 defeat at Sale on 28 November 2008.
Leeds Carnegie have suffered successive defeats in their last two games to Sale Sharks: 3-27 at Edgeley Park in the LV= Cup and 17-24 at Headingley Carnegie in the Guinness Premiership.
Leeds won their most recent Guinness Premiership away match 15-9 at Wasps but have not won back to back away games in the competition since season 2004/05.
All the buildup to this weekend's clash has been around the return of a number of former Tigers. Marco Wentzel, Seru Rabeni, Andy Key and Neil Back all have history at Welford Road and will be targeting a big performance.
Leicester, boosted by a win over the Springboks a couple of weeks ago, will be looking to finally find some attacking form and cut loose against the Premiership bottom team.
rugby365 Prediction: These are two completely different teams to the ones which did battle in the LV= Cup. Leicester in the Premiership at home should record a comfortable 15 point win.
Bath Rugby v London Irish (17:35 GMT) (17:35 local) - The Recreation Ground -
Bath are unbeaten in their last four clashes with London Irish since the Exiles most recent victory: 15-7 at Madejski Stadium on 17 February 2007. Irish have not won at the Rec since a 21-17 scoreline on 4 November 2006.
Bath Rugby are unbeaten in their last two matches in all competitions following their 12-all draw at Worcester on Friday evening in the Guinness Premiership. Bath have won just one of their last six Premiership matches at the Rec: 33-18 over Saracens on 25 April.
London Irish's only victory in their last four encounters in all competitions was 12-11 over Cardiff Blues at the City Stadium in the LV= Cup on 15 November. The Exiles' only "away" loss in the Guinness Premiership this season was 14-18 to Saracens at Twickenham in the London Double Header on 5 September.
Despite a couple poor performances in recent weeks London Irish remain a real force in the Premiership but will still be without a couple first-choice players this weekend due to international call ups.
Bath seem to have started to turn the corner but this weekend will be the ultimate test for them. Playing at home, Steve Meehan's men will need to come away from this weekend's clash with a win.
rugby365 Prediction: This match has undoubted potential and will certainly be one worth watching if you can. With a couple players, particularly Seilala Mapusua missing, we're predicting an upset win for Bath - by less than six.
by rugby365