The Gallagher Premiership continues this week as league and RFU officials are summoned to face a parliamentary committee over rugby union’s financial crisis.
All things considered, it’s been a good week for the English top tier with not one side being expelled from the Premiership.
It doesn’t mean the week has been without controversy, however, as the British parliament0have summoned the RFU and Gallagher Premiership head honchos to explain the financial crisis that has left a dark cloud over rugby union in England.
Anyway, on to the good news and there are four solid games of rugby in store for punters this weekend with the pick of the bunch seeing Saracens and Sale face off in North London.
Friday 28 October
Gloucester 4/5 | Exeter 87/100 (20:45)
We’ve got a solid game to kick the weekend off with as fourth-placed Gloucester take on the third-placed Exeter Chiefs on Friday. It should be a titanic old battle at the Kingsholm with the Chiefs above their hosts on the Premiership table only by virtue of points differential.
Both sides were involved in extremely tight games last weekend. Gloucester claimed a superb come-from-behind victory over London Irish with a 62-second minute long-range drop goal from Scottish international Adam Hastings, handing the Cherry and Whites a 21-22 away win.
Exeter came out on the wrong end of a close run affair as an 81st-minute penalty sunk them with Saracens taking the game 20-22.
The Chiefs looked decent last week, and they were desperately unlucky not to win the fixture. I reckon they’ll bounce back this weekend.
Saturday 29 October
Harlequins 31/100 | London Irish 85/40 (16:00)
We head over to London for our next fixture which will see Harlequins and London Irish square off at the Twickenham stoop.
‘Quins may have got their season back on track by beating a bang-in-form Sale Sharks outfit 13-29 in Manchester. The star of the show was England fly-half Marcus Smith who scored 24 of Harlequins’ 29 points.
London Irish gave a solid account of themselves in Round 7 but ultimately went down by a solitary point to Gloucester. The result would have annoyed Les Kiss, with Irish having led for most of the match.
They’re at home, and their talisman is in the groove. I fully expect ‘Quins to dominate this one. Get on the hosts to clear the (-8.5) handicap at 4/5.
Northampton 4/9 | Bristol 31/20 (16:00)
We head over to Northampton next with the Saints playing host to Bristol.
Both sides have endured rather patchy starts to their respective campaigns with Bristol winning three of their six and Northampton winning three of their seven games.
Bristol had a week off last weekend while the Saints had a rather disappointing showing against Bath as they went down 27-14 to the previously winless side.
Northampton were pretty toothless on attack and will need to be far better with ball-in-hand this weekend if they are to get one over an unpredictable but exceedingly talented Bristol outfit.
I fancy the Bears to take this one. They’ve had a couple weeks off and will have been able to regroup and reassess. I think there’s some pretty good value on the (+7.5) handicap at 7/10.
Sunday 30 October
Saracens 23/100 | Sale 12/5 (17:00)
The curtain comes down on the Round 8 action in North London where league leaders Saracens will take on the second-placed Sale Sharks.
Saracens had a decent time of it last weekend although they were pushed hard by old foes Exeter. They managed to get the job done, however, with a penalty from substitute Alex Goode the difference, giving them a two-point win.
Sale did not fare as well in Round 7 as they suffered their first campaign defeat going down by 16 points to a Marcus Smith-inspired Harlequins.
While I expect a big response from Sale, I don’t think it will be enough to knock Saracens off their perch at the StoneX. In fact, I’ll be on Saracens to clear the (-8.5) handicap at 5/6.
