It’s the last round before the Christmas/New Year break. More on that later.
The Fixtures
20 December: Quins v Bears, KO 15.05
21 December:
Sharks v Sarries, KO 13.00
Lightning v Trailfinders, KO 14.00
Tigers v Glos-Pury, KO 15.00
The top and bottom of the league are as expected, Sarries just ahead of G-H by virtue of playing one more game. Tigers, though improving, remain ninth.
As luck would have it, bottom meets the champions. We can only hope G-H restrain themselves sufficiently to protect the fair face of the league.
All the fun of the fair comes with the clubs in between.
For Quins it’s the Big Match, where they pull out all the stops to gain a big audience. Well done, them. As I’ve said in past seasons, the test comes with retaining the new support at future fixtures. It is a double-header.
Much will depend on the number of players the two clubs can welcome back from injury. Both are anxious to gain a run of confidence-building wins.
The Lightning-TF game is another potential cliffhanger. The hosts had a heartening win at Bears, but TF impress as a future dark horses.
A Break
I’ve commented before on the disruptive nature of the season. Now we look forward to a 5-week break, and we don’t have an RWC to explain it.
It leaves clubs with a dilemma: do we need to introduce a mini pre-season prep to get everyone up to speed again? For Chiefs and Sarries it’s even an longer delay, as they suffer a bye-week before and after.
Who knows, next month may bring the worst weather since 1962-63?
One consolation is, it allows more time for the army of injured players to recover. Every cloud…
Let’s enjoy the rugby while we have it.
