Rugby Union: London Irish v Harlequins & Worcester v Newcastle Preview

It’s hard to say who’s favourite to win the all-London clash in Brentford where Irish will be hoping for a much better performance than they delivered at home last weekend against Northampton Saints who were far superior, winning by 42-22.

Eighth in the league on 53 points and still in with a chance of making the top four, London Irish are experiencing mediocre form currently having won only one of their previous four Premiership games, so it may not be worth putting money on them.

As regards Harlequins, their form just now is excellent, they’ve been successful in their last four league matches, and in third place on 63 points, the Twickenham club look like making the play-offs and therefore may have the opportunity of defending their title.

With internationals Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt returning from the Six Nations, punters may be encouraged to back Quins who’ll be keen to gain revenge for their defeat by London Irish(22-19) in November.

Irish, who will hoping for another 10,000 plus crowd at the Brentford Community Stadium, may be the joint highest try scorers in the league with 75, but they’ll find it hard to break down the Quins’ defence which is one of the toughest in the Premiership.

Indeed, the champions have conceded 49 and if you compare that with Irish(71 tries let in),you can understand why Quins will be favourites.

Interestingly, London Irish have two of the best performing stars in the Premiership. Hooker Agustin Creevy who’s scored 11 tries, the second highest going into this round of games, and in fly half Paddy Jackson, they possess one of the most accurate goal kickers. He’s scored 165 points, making him also second best in the league.

Can Newcastle Falcons Win Their First Game Since November?

Sixways, home of Worcester Warriors, is the venue for the clash between two of the teams who are close to the bottom of the Premiership table.

It’s not easy to say who’s favourite as both sides have been struggling throughout the campaign to win games. Worcester, 11^th in the league on 30 points, have won five matches and lost 13, and Newcastle Falcons, second from bottom on 27 points, have the same disappointing record, only five victories and 13 defeats.

In fact, Newcastle’s last win in the Premiership was achieved way back in November last year when, amazingly, they beat Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park by one point 15-14.

Worcester’s form at home is very mixed, of the nine matches at Sixways, five have been won and four lost, so Newcastle can be fairly optimistic, not least because against Wasps in Coventry last weekend, they put on a decent display, although losing by 27-24.

The Falcons’ hooker, George McGuigan, scored a hat-trick taking his tally in the Premiership to 12, so he’s now the top try scorer in the league.

Newcastle’s director of rugby, Dean Richards, can also be confident of a good result because Worcester have the weakest defence in the Premiership, they’ve conceded 95 tries, far worse than the Falcons who’ve had 61 scored against them in 19 games.

Worcester’s last game which should have been against Gloucester last Friday was called off because of Covid, injuries and a lack of available players at Sixways, so they may be ring rusty.