12 Jun 2019
This weekend marks the halfway point in the Aviva Premiership season, with a mouth-watering set of games in-store to kick off the Christmas period.
Perhaps the pick of the bunch sees bottom side London Irish travel to Worcester in a relegation dogfight. The Irish haven’t won since the opening game of the season and currently sit six points adrift of the Warriors at the foot of the Premiership table.
Despite an equally woeful start to the season, which saw the Warriors lose all of their first eight games, two huge wins and a near third on the bounce make Worcester the favourites here. They come in, in the rugby union betting odds, at 1/3 to take the win.
That being said, we predict it could be a tight contest. London Irish have lost a third of their games since the opening day of the season by just four points or less, making rugby betting odds of 4/1 for a Worcester win by 1-5 points definitely worth a punt.
Just above those two sides at the bottom end of the table, Northampton travel to runaway leaders and reigning champions Exeter Chiefs, as Saints hope for a reversal of form after sacking long-term Director of Rugby, Jim Mallinder.
George North could be the man to make the difference for the Saints, in a week that has seen all four of Welsh rugby’s top teams express interest in the man set to depart at the end of the season.
With the race to qualify for next season’s European competition and the battle to finish in the top four play-off places heating up, two in-form teams in Gloucester and Wasps also clash this weekend. Slightly pipping Wasps’ record of four wins on the bounce, a win at the Ricoh Arena would not only be the first time Gloucester have won on Wasps’ soil since 2008, but would also be the first time Gloucester have won six league games in a row since 2003.
Despite both sides enduring poor runs of form of late, powerhouses Saracens and Leicester have shared six of the last nine premiership titles and will be out to prove a point on Saturday. As the Sarries may still be hurting from a last gasp loss to London rivals, Harlequins, the Tigers will look to capitalise – a win would be just their second win in their last eight league match-ups against the Sarries.
That being said, we can see the Tigers taking this one to inflict more heartache on a Saracens side currently on a run of seven successive defeats in all tournaments - their worst since 2003.
Currently level pegging on 24 points apiece, one of the weekend’s other potentially season defining games sees Harlequins travel to the Falcons’ patch. Both will be desperate to win to keep their top four aspirations alive, but Quins could well snatch this one, buoyed by their epic Sarries win.
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