Harlequins
Champions Harlequins will be out to extend their unbeaten start to the English Premiership when they take on Sale Sharks this weekend. Quins currently head the standings after two rounds, but with five teams still unbeaten there is plenty of pressure to continue their winning ways.
The second round of the 2012/2013 season’s Aviva Premiership was completed this weekend. In the first match of the weekend London Welsh were comprehensively beaten by Harlequins, who scored six tries to none. In the last game, which was played on Sunday, Northampton Saints managed to scrape through against a brave Exeter Chiefs outfit.
The second round of Aviva Premiership games take places this weekend and while it may only be Round Two, Saracens have laid down an early marker in the 2012/13 Premiership season.
The Aviva Premiership gets underway this weekend, with the first match kicking off at 1500 South African time on Saturday at Twickenham. There will be a further four matches on Saturday with the final game for the round due to kick off at 1500 South African time on Sunday.
The regular rugby season officially kicks off in the UK and Ireland in just over two weeks time when the Aviva Premiership and RaboDirect Pro12 league games start. However, the clubs have been busy with their pre-season preparations and a number of friendly matches were played this past weekend.
Harlequins captain Chris Robshaw was the proud man who was able to hoist the Aviva Premiership trophy following Harlequins victory over Leicester in the final not long completed at Twickenham. England captain Robshaw played a big part in the win and was good value for the super try he scored.
As reported earlier in the week the finals of the Aviva Premiership and the RaboDirect Pro12 take place this weekend. They should both be really high intensity games with the teams competing quite evenly matched.
It seems at the moment as if we are reaching saturation point with the amount of knockout rugby that we have had of late on these shores. This coming weekend is no exception as we look forward to the finals of the Aviva Premiership and RaboDirect Pro 12 as well as the Barbarians game against England.
This weekend saw the semi finals of the two competitions being played. The final scores were fairly close in all but one of the matches.
The two competitions have reached the knockout stages with the battle for final spots taking place this weekend.
The Aviva Premiership ‘dream team’ for the season 2011/2012 has recently been announced. On Tuesday evening, in London, various awards for this season were handed out with the accolade for player of the season going to Harlequins, and England, captain, Chris Robshaw.
Defending Premiership champions Saracens showed their class on Tuesday with a 19-11 victory over league leaders Harlequins at a sold-out Twickenham.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that Springbok coach, Peter de Villiers, is starting to push the panic buttons.