This weekend’s fixtures:
Saturday
Bristol Bears v Sale Sharks
DMP Durham Sharks v Wasps
Harlequins v Loughborough Lightning
Worcester Warriors v Exeter Chiefs
Sunday
Saracens v Gloucester-Hartpury
A new obstacle to progress rears its head: frozen grounds. A floodlit game in Braemar the other night at -22 degrees would have been an experience.
The juiciest encounter this week is the first on the list. Will the Bears be able to get their act together to prevent the Sharks gaining a long-awaited first away win? Life hasn’t been easy for the Bristolians recently; with a newly promoted coaching team in place the players will need to produce their best form.
The league table tells the true position: only three points separate the top four; but Wasps have played one game more than the two leaders, Lightning three. Those extra games in hand are likely to mean another big lead for Sarries and Quins at the season’s end. Unless…
Both of them have come away from Sandy Park tasting defeat. Now they face the two campus-based teams at home. G-H enjoyed a productive trip to Sale last week, but are unlikely to repeat the magic recipe at StoneX Stadium.
Can Lightning put a full game together to keep Quins on the back foot? They beat them soundly two years ago, but time moves on. It would heighten the drama immensely if they could gain an away victory this week.
The current Top of the Pops try-scoring table reveals seven names, Jasmine Joyce and Lark Davies out in front with a dozen each. But of the septet only Rhona Lloyd joins Joyce in representing the backs. The weight of evidence – or effectiveness – in the current game still favours the forwards.
Hollie Davidson’s appointment to referee her first Guinness PRO14 match is excellent news. But as it marks another boost for women in rugby, so it reduces the number of female referees available to take women’s matches. There is still need for more of them to make their mark Thus far in the AP15s only Sara Cox and Nikki O’Donnell have been appointed. One eminent name that won’t appear this season is LaToya Mason. After taking charge of her first Tyrrells Premier 15s game in November 2019 she has since moved back to New Zealand to become High Performance Manager of Taranaki Women.
Are we close to hearing news of full television coverage of the Prem 15s? Rumours are rife, but the current situation doesn’t help the sales pitch. The standard of play continues to rise, but the TV camera does like large crowds to provide the background buzz. Few sports in the UK can boast that at present, but the future is exciting. The hope must be that exposure of TV encourages more people to go and watch for themselves.
Which of the potential candidates is the most likely? – free-to-air (eg BBC, ITV, C4) or a commercial enterprise (eg BT, Sky)? Simply from the point of view of viewing numbers the former group would be preferable. And the money to be forked out for the privilege would be slightly less than the average player in the football premiership earns in a year/month/week/day (delete as preferred).
Of course, you might want the 6 Nations to get consistent coverage first. But that’s another story, one that still hasn’t found an ending.
Tailpiece
I wonder how long it took that deft seamstress to stitch the Allianz badge on to the left shoulder of every jersey used in the Prem 15s this season. It must have been a hard day’s night.
