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Holiday break? No such thing in the Aviva Premiership! The flogging continues as Round 12 squeezes in just before New Years with a couple days of Christmas fit in early in the week for a few lucky ones. With traditional powerhouses Saracens, Leicester, and Northampton struggling, it’s the likes of Gloucester, Sale, and Newcastle who could make things interesting in the second half of the season.
Friday saw Lucas Noguera Paz coming off the bench in his second game for new club Bath. An exciting game at The Rec unfortunately ended badly for the home side, with Wasps coming away 31-26 winners to spoil the party. The Coventry-based side are now second to Exeter, who are six points clear at the top of the table at the moment.
AJ MacGinty will look to continue his excellent form of late as Sale travel to Gloucester on Saturday, with Marland Yarde named on the bench. Newcastle meanwhile have a chance to step closer to the top four as they head south to the Madejski to play a woeful London Irish team. Juan Pablo Socino continues at inside centre and Evan Olmstead will finally make his first Premiership appearance of the season from bench with Will Witty out injured.
Saracens host an improving Worcester side at Allianz Park with Juan Figallo and Marcelo Bosch both in the starting lineup. Joe Taufete’e was due to play for the Warriors but has had to return state-side to deal with a personal matter. Andrew Durutalo meanwhile will start for the Cavaliers in Aviva ‘A’ duty on Sunday against Northampton. Juan Pablo Estelles is likely to play for the Wanderers.
Also on Sunday is the final Premiership match of the calendar year when Leicester travel to Sandy Park to face the Chiefs. Chris Baumann is again among the reserves. His team have been in poor form as of late and Exeter is not exactly a choice location to try and turn it around.
