The short side: Summit battles, 1872 Cup and shoes to fill

Colin Newboult
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The short side returns to Planet Rugby as we bring you the main talking points ahead of this weekend’s action in the Premiership, PRO14 and Top 14.

Premiership game to watch – Exeter Chiefs v Saracens

This is indisputably the biggest match of the weekend. Table-toppers Saracens with nine successive league wins in 2018/19 come up against second-placed Exeter, who have eight victories from nine.

Exeter have been the only team in recent times to have mounted any sustained title challenge to the men from North London. Sarries won the Premiership in 2015, 2016, only for the Chiefs to prevent them from making it a hat-trick as the men from Devon took the 2017 crown. However, normality resumed as Mark McCall’s men claimed the trophy for the third time in four years.

Exeter have scored more and conceded fewer tries than any other team but are two points adrift of Saracens due to their narrow Round Nine defeat to Harlequins. A fortnight ago Rob Baxter’s men were stunned 27-12 by Gloucester in the Champions Cup, which will have Saracens licking their lips. However, Rob Baxter’s side did bounce back from that defeat with a 29-17 victory. Either way it should make for a veritable Christmas cracker.

PRO14 game to watch – Edinburgh v Glasgow Warriors

The Warriors are flying high in first place in Conference A with eight wins from 10 games and seven points clear of second-placed Munster. Edinburgh, meanwhile, are struggling down in fifth in Conference B with four wins from their 10 matches.

However, the home side will be buoyed by their recent double Champions Cup success over Newcastle. In Dave Rennie and Richard Cockerill, we have the two shrewdest mentors in the game and it should make for an intriguing encounter. Edinburgh simply have to win if they want to continue climbing up the table towards the play-off places, while they will also want to hold onto the 1872 Cup they regained last season.

Player to watch – Owen Williams (Gloucester)

With Danny Cipriani having been ruled out for six weeks with a pectoral injury earlier this week, it has opened the door for three-Test capped Owen Williams. Having been first-choice 12 last November for Wales against Australia and New Zealand, he has since seen himself fall down the pecking order. He has also struggled to command a regular spot at Gloucester and the Cherry and Whites lacked control once Cipriani left the field against Exeter Chiefs, so the onus is on the playmaker to step up versus Newcastle.

One-v-one battle to watch – Will Addison (Ulster) v Sammy Arnold (Munster)

Addison has justifiably received plenty of plaudits over recent weeks having played three times during Ireland’s November campaign and impressed in the Champions Cup for Ulster. The former Sale Sharks player, injury-depending, is a genuine challenger to Garry Ringrose and Robbie Henshaw for the Six Nations, but you should not forget about Munster’s Arnold, who also made his Test debut in the end-of-year series. He ironically came on for Addison against the USA so it will be an enthralling contest to see which talented outside centre comes out on top.

Subplot to watch – Leicester v Harlequins battle of the coaches

The rumour mill was in full swing a couple of weeks ago with stories surrounding the future of Quins’ head of rugby Paul Gustard. Leicester had allegedly made an audacious bid to bring in the ex-England coach but those reports were widely denied and the Tigers have since announced Geordan Murphy as their permanent boss. That doesn’t mean Gustard won’t join later on but it sets up an interesting contest at Welford Road. With the Tigers on a run of eight defeats in a row and Murphy struggling to find the answers, the Londoners will fancy their chances of continuing the hosts’ miserable campaign.

Best of the rest

As well as Exeter v Saracens, there is another game this weekend which sees teams residing in first and second going head-to-head. In the Top 14, Clermont Auvergne take on Toulouse at the Marcel Michelin on Sunday in a match which pits two outstanding teams against each other. After a difficult few years by their high standards, Les Rouge et Noir appear revitalised and are in an excellent position, both domestically and in Europe. Their record currently stands at nine wins in a row, so it should be a thrilling contest against Clermont.

Elsewhere, Wasps seem set to draw their biggest ever home crowd when they take on Bath at the Ricoh Arena. The Christmas and New Year period tends to bring in the spectators and the attendance could well beat the 28,254 that watched them against London Irish in their first game at the stadium. Check out that encounter as the two sides attempt to overcome their disappointing recent form, while in the PRO14 the top two Welsh regions face-off at the Liberty Stadium when the Ospreys clash with the Scarlets.

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