Only three rounds remain in the regular season of the English Premiership. This weekend will see week 20 of the competition, a round with key match-ups with both an eye to the play-off’s and to avoiding relegation.
First up will be the bottom placed Newcastle Falcons at home against the Northampton Saints on Friday evening. With the Falcons being seven points adrift of 11th position they simply must come away with points. Canadian Evan Olmstead, and Argentine Santiago Socino will miss the match at Kingston Park.
Also in Northern England on Friday the Sale Sharks play host to Bath. The 8th vs 7th fixture will include USA Eagles play-maker AJ MacGinty who will start at fly half. Not involved for Bath is Argentine loose head Lucas Noguera Paz.
On Saturday the Exeter Chiefs are at home against the Harlequins. Missing for the Chiefs will be Santiago Cordero who is recovering from injury. He is expected back for round 22 against Northampton. Also missing the match through injury is USA center Paul Lasike.
The club making all the headlines in the race to avoid relegation is the Leicester Tigers. The most powerful, and successful English team of all-time is officially having its worst season. It is now 8 points above Newcastle but should be safe following Saturday’s match against the Bristol Bears. Playing at home will be Argentine prop Facundo Gigena from the bench covering loose head.
In Coventry the Wasps host Saracens. The European Champions Cup finalists have again named Titi Lamoistele to start the match. The USA Eagle will play at tight head, the same position as clubmate Juan Figallo who continues to recover from injury.