Guinness Premiership

Won’t it be a joy to watch some rugby where the forwards have some part to play? That’s right, the increasingly successful Guinness Premiership is back this weekend, and without the full set of confounded Aussie alterations to the rules called the ELV’s. Rugby is meant to be a game for all shapes and sizes, and only now in the northern hemisphere is that true so let’s sit back and enjoy the true game.

There have been plenty of personall changes over the off-season. Newcastle has lost Mathew Tait and Toby Flood, leaving poor old Jonny Wilkinson on his jack jones up there.

Lawrence Dallaglio has shuffled off stage left, but has been replaced by Serge Betsen; Tom Walkinshaw keeps trying according to the rumours to sell Gloucester, Steve Borthwick and Olly Barkley left Bath for Saracens and Gloucester respectively, and after seven tortuous months coach Marcello Loffreda left Leicester Tigers and was replaced by Heyneke Meyer of the Blue Bulls. Some changes eh? But how will they all pan out over the winter? For brevity sake, let’s split the Division into three – Top Tier, Mid Table and No Hopers.

Top Tier

Wasps:
Champions again, but without the wizard that is Daniel Cipriani, till at least November. Dallaglio has gone, Serge Betsen is in, and Raphael Ibanez is captain. Other than the window dressing they look one hell of a talented bunch again and only a fool would not see them in the mix come May. They must get through international call-ups, but have one hell of a squad.

London Irish:
These are the quality acts in the league as they have proved recently, and at Irish it is testament to lots of hard work over fiv years. Of course they no longer have the mastermind coach that is Brian Smith (gone to England) and Mike Catt is older now but they have Casey/Kennedy at lock and a well drilled defence. There is plenty of attack as well, with Shane Geraghty and Topsy Ojo.

Leicester Tigers:
Heyneke Meyer is one tough hombre and a friend who watched them play Emirates Western Force said the hardnosed grizzled Tigers machine of old is back. Is it enough to win come May? Maybe not, but they should be back up there and to be honest English rugby is better for a strong Tigers. Derek Hougaard has followed Meyer from the veld to play at 10 as Andy Goode follows the sun to France.

Gloucester:
Dean Ryan has recruited well in bolstering the midfield with Olly Barkley. They have talent to burn – Antony Allen, Ryan Lamb etc but sometimes need better decisions. At home they will be hard to beat as ever, but they rely on Sinbad Simpson Daniel to heavily for tries. Barkley could change that.

Mid Table

Bath, Harlequins, Sale Sharks and Saracens. Inconsistent, occasionally frustrating but easily capable of good runs.

No Hopers

Bristol, Northampton Saints, Worcester, Newcastle Falcons. These are weak teams that will struggle, especially the Falcons who seem in disarray just like their football counterparts. The Saints have plenty to do but have churned players to be a lot tighter after winning Division One last year, but the truth is these four are easily opposable and should make up the bottom four come May.

Overall the quality of rugby should be astounding and with the Heineken Cup as well, the fare on offer should give Ian McGeechan a real poser for selecting his Lions squad for SA next summer.