With the two final games coming and four nations locked on
two wins a piece, 6 Nations is at the
forefront of everyone’s minds in the rugby world but this weekend’s club
fixtures could have a big effect upon the makeup of next week’s games with many
big players having an opportunity to prove themselves this weekend.
Chief amongst them will be Marland Yarde, the red hot
England prospect who is back on the teamsheet after a long absence, who makes
his return at Sandy park as the Exeter Chiefs try and turn around a 5 match losing
streak that has seen them slide to eight in the table. This should be no
problem given that those games have involved trips to Harlequins, Saracens and
Wasps, along with the visits of Bath and Northampton, and while the presence of
James O’Connor odes give them game changing quality needed for trips like this,
it should be back to winning ways for the Chiefs, who’s advantage in the pack
should play a significant park back infront of their own after being outmuscled
by Saracens last week on their travels.
Yarde’s performance is sure to be one of the talking points
of the weekend with Jack Nowell and Johnny May having impressed from an all
round point of view even if tries have been hard to come by for them, slowly
building some cohesion in another backline that Lancaster has had to build
together at the drop of a hat, with Wales next week also demanding excellent
defensive skills.
Elsewhere, Harlequins have the pace and all round game to
put a few scores past Worcester but the way that much of the same side
struggled badly against Newcastle pus some doubt as to whether they’ll be able
to keep a lead. Now while Worcester have been in far worse form. Even they
stayed in 15 of Northampton Saints two weeks ago and handicaps in the same
range could make uncomfortable watching today.
The Saints themselves should keep up their march towards the
end of season playoffs, with a home semi final now guaranteed and along with it
a guarantee to avoid Saracens until the final given their astonishing gap
between them and Bath in third, and they can make amends for one of their few
defeats of the season against Gloucester with a convincing home win. The Saints
power game has seen them come close to glory in many recent occasions, notably
in last year’s final, but some impressive new signings and notable the addition
of Alex King as backs coach as given Jim Mallinder’s men a new lease of life
and they can make amends for an unfortunate defeat at Kingsholm earlier in the
season.
That was one of Gloucester’s few high points of what has
been wretched season, but even with a marked improvement in performance over
recent weeks they look far inferior to Northampton and the difference in the
packs can lead the home side to a convincing win. A handicap of 9 points is a
bulky one but on seven occasions at Franklins Gardens they’ve won by 10 points or
more and that roll of honour includes Saracens, Harlequins and Bath amongst
them.
Advice
2 pts Northampton -9 (10/11 Boylesports)
1 pt Exeter -6 (10/11 general)
No comments:
Post a Comment