RFU Championship Preview Round 18 (14/15 Jan)

RFU Championship 

 

Current state of play

 

Bristol lead the table by 11 points on 64 with Bedford and London Welsh both on 53 points and the Pirates just a point behind them 

 

At the other end of the table four teams are some 15 points adrift of the rest with London Scottish top of that list of four some 15 points behind Doncaster 

 

Rotherham v Moseley

 

Sixth placed Rotherham are at home to 10^th placed Moseley and trail Leeds Carnegie by two points whilst Moseley are just a point behind London Scottish 

 

Rotherham will be looking to bounce back from last Saturday’s 21-20 home defeat at the hands of London Welsh, their first home defeat of the season   

The Titians have now lost four of their last six matches and will be looking for the win to get their season back on track 

 

At home this season Rotherham have the third best record in the division with seven wins and just one defeat and picked up 31 points but have only collected two try bonus points at Clifton Lane    

 

Moseley were involved in a high scoring loss at home to Leeds Carnegie last week on the back of their excellent away win at London Welsh 

 

On the road Moseley have the fourth worst record in the division with two wins in eight matches and in the six defeats they have only collected two losing bonus points 

 

Rotherham have picked up five losing bonus points in their seven defeats whilst Moseley have taken two losing bonus points in 11 defeats 

 

The Titans have the top scorer in the Championship with Gary Law who has scored 241 points this season, 33 more than anyone else whilst for Moseley Ollie Thomas leads the way with 107 points   

 

PREDICTION: Rotherham to return to winning ways at Clifton Lane with 10 point home win over Moseley 

 

London Welsh v Bristol 

 

Game of the day brings the leaders to Old Deer Park to take on third placed London Welsh, with a win for the home side vital if they are to have any chance of catching the leaders 

 

Bristol are on a seven match winning run since losing away at Moseley back in November 

 

London Welsh responded to their surprise home defeat against Moseley with a 21-20 away win at Rotherham last weekend 

 

These two have the meanest defences in the Championship this season with Bristol conceding 303 points and the Welsh just 10 more 

 

The Welsh have actually got more points on the road than at home, at Old Deer Park they only have the eighth best record in the Championship and on the road they have the best

 

Bristol have the second best away record with six wins and three defeats and taken a losing bonus point in two of their three defeats

 

Top points scorer for either side this season is Bristol fly half Tristan Roberts with 184 points, the fifth most in the Championship this season and 52 more than Gordon Ross has scored for the Welsh 

 

In five matches against the Welsh, Roberts has 53 points  

 

In the try scoring stakes London Welsh No 8 Ed Jackson leads the way with 10 tries, two fewer than division leader Joshua Bassett

 

Bristol’s top try scorer this season is winger George Watkins with eight, one more than Jack Tovey, Tovey is the joint top try scorer on the road this season with six tries

 

The Welsh have scored more tries in the first half than the second, which is against the trend whilst Bristol have the best record for scoring tries in the last quarter of matches, with 19

 

 

PREDICTION: Bristol to leave with the win but the Welsh to collect a losing bonus point   

 

Bedford v London Scottish 

 

Second placed Bedford Blues are at home to ninth placed London Scottish on the back of a comprehensive away defeat at Doncaster whilst London Scottish will be buoyed after a fifth win of the season at the hands of Plymouth Albion 

 

At Goldington Road the Blues only have the sixth best home record this season with five wins to go with a draw and two defeats and have collected four try bonus points and one losing bonus point 

 

They have though won their last four at home with their early season home form causing them their problems with just one win in their first four matches at Goldington Road 

 

Since winning three matches in a row in November they have failed to win back to back in five matches 

 

On the road the Scottish have just one win to go with seven defeats and only Esher and Plymouth picked up fewer points, they have though taken four losing bonus points in those seven defeats

 

London Scottish fly half Dan Mugford is the fifth top scorer in the division with 186 points whilst for Bedford three players are close together with the kicking duties split this season. Jamie Lennard leads the way for the Blues on 107, James Pritchard is next on 91 and Jake Sharp is third on 58 

 

Bedford winger Joshua Bassett is the divisions leading try scorer with 12 tries, one more the Cornish Pirate wing David Doherty whilst for Scottish leading points scorer Mugford is also the leading try scorer with five, one more than second row Steven Pape 

 

Bedford have conceded 18 tries in the last quarter of matches, only Nottingham have conceded more and it is one more than Scottish in this time period      

  

PREDICTION: Bedford Blues to return to winning ways with 12 points win and try bonus point 

 

Esher v Cornish Pirates

 

Bottom of the table Esher are at home to fourth placed Cornish Pirates looking for their second win of the season whilst the Pirates will be looking to build on last weekend's narrow home win over Nottingham 26-24 having respond respond from the previous weeks 32-13 defeat at Bedford Blues 

 

 

PREDICTION: Pirates to leave with 12 points win

 

Plymouth v Leeds Carnegie

Second bottom Plymouth Albion are at home to fifth placed Leeds Carnegie with Albion still looking for their first try bonus point of the season and Leeds have just two in their 17 matches 

 

 

Leeds are second in the Form Guide with 18 points out of 24 in their last six matches with four wins and a draw to go with one defeat

 

Albion have the ninth best home record with five wins to go with four defeats but have yet to collect a try bonus point at Brickfields and only picked up one losing bonus point in their four defeats

 

Leeds have the fourth best away record with four wins and a draw to go with three defeats and whilst they have failed to collect a try bonus point at home they have picked up two on the road 

 

Leeds started the season with four defeats in five matches but since then have produced a run of 10 wins, one draw and one defeat in 12 matches to climb the table

 

Albion are bottom of the Form Guide with just four points from one win to go with five defeats

 

Albion have the third highest points scorer in the division with James Love on 197 points which is five more than Leeds’ Thomas Bell  

 

Leeds Carnegie have scored just 29 tries this season, only Albion (27) and Esher (23) have scored fewer

 

Leading try scorer for Carnegie is on loan centre Iain Thornley with four tries and three of those have come on the road whilst for Albion three players lead the way on three tries including winger Tyson Lewis whose tries have all come at home

 

Prediction: Carnegie to leave with nine point win but no try bonus 

 

Nottingham v Doncaster (Sunday)

 

Seventh placed Nottingham are at home to eighth placed Doncaster with both players locked on 44 points, the home side have the better attacking record and Doncaster the better defensive record 

 

Although Nottingham have scored 100 points plus more than Doncaster the Knights have six try bonus points, two more than Nottingham 

 

After their best run of the season, four straight wins, Nottingham have slipped to three successive defeats whilst Doncaster have lost just one of their last four matches

 

At Meadow Lane Nottingham have the fifth best record in the division but are the leading points scorers with 289 but defensively have conceded 209 which is the third highest in the Championship

On the road Doncaster have the fifth best record with three wins and a draw to go with four defeats    

 

Leading scorer for either side is Nottingham’s fly half James Arlidge with 116 points, four more than Doncaster’s winger David McIlwaine

Arlidge missed the start of the season as he was playing for Japan in the World Cup whilst McIlwaine was not the first choice kicker at the start of the season 

 

In the try scoring stakes Doncaster wing Michael Keating leads the way with eight tries and six of them have come in the first half which is against the trend 

Leading the way for Nottingham is full back David Jackson who is on six tries as he extends his Nottingham all time record for tries in the league, but only has one try against Doncaster in 15 matches    

 

PREDICTION: Close match with Nottingham sneaking it with six point win