Aviva Premiership - Round 15

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Friday 16th Feb

Sale vs Saracens 19.45 (BT Sport)

Sale have been slowly creeping up the table of late, we have a habit of getting points and have finally started to win matches. However Saracens even with players away on international duty are an excellent team, Sale might sneak a win but more likely looking for a losing bonus point.


Newcastle vs Bath 19.45

Newcastle are looking to bounce back from a loss away to Saracens, they are at home and will doubtlessly draw on the advantage. Bath have been winning against struggling sides recently and will want to prove their worth away from home against a good Newcastle team. I see Newcastle getting a home win.



Saturday 17th Feb

Northampton vs London Irish 15.00

A clash of the 2 teams with the worst recent record in the league. Northampton are at home and must feel against the bottom club they can pick up a win, however Irish also will be feeling they have a chance at getting some decent points against a team that has fallen from grace this season and are really struggling to find any sort of form. Personally I am going out on a limb and going for a rare Irish win.


Leicester vs Harlequins 15.00 (BT Sport)

Another 2 teams struggling to show consistent form. Leicester as with saints are at home and are normally hard to beat when they are. Quins however have some some real good attacking play this season, however their performance last weekend was horrendous and if that team turn up it will be another loss. As usual I think the good Quins side will turn up after a bad game and win by a score.


Worcester vs Gloucester  15.00

Worcester like Sale have been slowly gaining points, they have yet to see the points move them up the table however. They will be desperate to leapfrog saints in the table and will hope to bring their improved game into the face of Gloucester. Gloucester however have been far from poor recently and have travelled generally quite well since the loss to Sale. Whilst Worcester have improved I do see this as an away win.


Sunday 18th Feb
Wasps vs Exeter 15.00 (BT Sport)

Hopefully the match of the weekend. Wasps will be buzzing (pun intended) after beating quins away with a man down for the majority of the game, they showed why people rate them very highly. Exeter have had 2 losses in a row in the league and will be wanting to get back to winning ways, they still top the league but will need to be at there best to beat wasps at home. tough to call but I am going with a Exeter tight win.

As always I look forward to seeing all my predictions to be amazingly wrong.

JP not having a good start with the whistle. "You collapsed the maul out of play"? WTF?

LondonTiger wrote:Some wonderfully one eyed reffing from JP so far

He should be wearing a black shirt.

Lawrence commentating like he still is wearing a black shirt.

I wish Dayglo would just shut up. First he calls to a YC to be given to Lees for deliberate knock on in the Wasps dead ball area (imo shocking decision to call it deliberate), then bleating about a clear forward pass that denies Bassett a try.

Gotta agree.
There was no way that knock on in the in-goal was deliberate. That forward pass was only about 2 yards forwards. What's the problem with that?????

Old one eye won a world cup and was part of the last England side to beat the AB's in NZ.

Huge win for Wasps but I fear at what cost?

Exeter like Sarries are massively physical and I think we copped that today.

I have to say mind for me Reider's injury was from a trip type tackle and should be reviewed.

Lets hope it not as bad as it appeared.

The wrapping of the leg in a tackle is something you see quite a bit. Should be a little memo to clubs that this will be penalised in future.

Dayglo was a great player, he's just a poor commentator.

Wasps definitely made the most of the gift offered by JP missing the knock on at the base of the scrum. Cipriani was the big loss for Wasps, when he went off they lost a lot of their cut and thrust.

Exeter lacked much cutting edge through out. The backline didn't click, Devoto having been out for a while, Cordero having just arrived made several half line breaks but had no one to offload to and Woodburn had a shocker. The inability to get on the right side of the ref only compounded the problems.

Wasps now appear decimated by injuries and suspensions and even with their 4 international returnees (3+1) will struggle to win the Jeff which is a real disappointment.

By the by, I happened across a rather eccentric YouTube piece with young Haskell magnetically fishing to clear the local rivers of junk and the like..
It showed a very different side to him and as an environmentalist myself, I say more power to him.
Separately, I did find his recent piece on the ills of social media use and the loss of rugby's soul to the corporate coin all a bit rich given he is the 'brand master'.

Most sides have injury issues at this time of the season and everyone has to cope with missing key players. That Wasps chose to trash their salary structure by paying way over the odds to Beale and thus inflating salaries throughout their squad is a large part of why Dai Young keepos moaning about his squad size.

Suspensions are avoidable and lets face it with Lovobalavu's offence only being picked up via a citing, Exeter may well feel hard done by as in a close game him being sent off could have made a huge difference.