Most people look forward to the long, lazy days of summer but for die-hard rugby supporters like myself, these months can be absolute torture without our beloved sport. But our long wait is nearly over with the start of the Aviva Premiership ready to roar back into action this weekend and what a season it promises to be!
There’s been some noteable transfers over the summer and the one’s I’ll be most interested in will be:
– how will Burgess do with the cross-code move to Bath Rugby
– will the move to Tigers improve Burns’ chances of an England selection
– will Hook help improve Gloucester’s position in the table
– and will Yarde shine amongst the Harlequins stars
Over the coming months we’ll be looking closely at how the Premiership is panning out and how individuals are performing, with expert views from a few of our rugby ambassadors, especially leading up to the Autumn Internations, the 6 Nations and of course next years World Cup. But to start us off, former Bath Rugby and England legends Victor Ubogu and Lee Mears have shared with me their Top 4 predictions and who they think will be crowned Champions:
Victor Ubogu
1. Saracens
2. Tigers
3. Harlequins
4. Northampton
Champions: Saracens
Lee Mears
1. Bath Rugby
2. Northampton
3. Saracens
4. Sale
Champions: Saracens
Su Howard (me)
1. Northampton
2. Bath Rugby
3. Gloucester
4. Saracens
Champions: Northampton
This weekend sees 2 of last seasons top 4 battle it out in the now traditional London Double Header at Twickenham. Saracens v Wasps promises to be a great match and it’ll be interesting to see how the ‘Wolfpack’ perform without Borthwick, their insperational captain of the past few seasons. Harlequins v London Irish will be a closer encounter than most people think. Irish have made some clever signings with Tom Guest and Luke Narraway and I personally don’t think they’ll be the pushover some people think, a view shared by Topsy Ojo who can’t wait for the season to start.
“Pre-season has been great but coming out of that straight into the London Double Header means everyone's raring to go. It's always good to come up against Harlequins and after 8-9 weeks of hard pre-season training, we're ready to test ourselves. Can't wait to run out at Twickenham and face a great team like Quins.”