PWR Round 12 – Preview
A New Year of rugby sees its biggest star make her entrance.
A month after she signed a short-term contract, Ilona Maher may appear on Sunday for Bristol Bears; Dave Ward has selected her on the bench for their crunch match versus Gloucester- Hartpury.
Surprise, surprise! TNT will have their cameras at Ashton Gate for the occasion.
As of 14.00 on Friday, tickets are still available. How many new USA Bears fans will be flying across the Atlantic to snap them up?
Whether Bears can actually win the game is an entirely different matter. G-H have recently put 47 points on Saracens and 41 on Exeter Chiefs.
Fixtures
Saturday 4 January
Trailfinders v Harlequins KO 15.00 (YouTube)
Leicester Tigers v Sale Sharks KO 17.50
Sunday 5 January
Bristol Bears v Gloucester-Hartpury KO 12.45 (TNT)
Loughborough Lightning v Saracens KO 17.30
It’s Chiefs’ turn to laze in the sunshine.
Another round spread across two days, with two matches starting at climatically unfriendly times. There is plenty at stake: Quins have been crowing these past few days; last Saturday they posted an attendance of 18,055 at HQ, a new club world record, so long as you are happy to include double-headers in that category.
As you can see from the top of the table:
Table P W Pts
Quins 10 8 40
Exeter Chiefs 9 8 38
Glos-Pury 10 7 38
Saracens 10 7 37
Bristol Bears 9 6 31
– both Glos-Pury and Sarries could go storming past Quins, if only Trailfinders can achieve an unlikely result and see off their nearest neighbours at home. TF have become the latest club to add a new player to the ranks, Rori Wood, the Canadian international prop.
At the other end of the table the two laggards meet again. For me, this is the area of the PWR that should concern us most deeply. Both sides have proved capable of scoring nicely against top opposition, but neither has the ability to keep their defensive wall intact. With only nine clubs contending, it is regrettable that no fewer than two lie so far behind their fellows.
