Mission Possible

It's hard to describe Welsh's season as anything but a disaster. Generally conceding 50 points a match, and with only Newcastle not taking a try bonus point at the Kassam Stadium, their solitary bonus point incongruously came at Bath, where they collected four tries.Playing miles from their spiritual home, with unsurprisingly modest support, and at one stage thinking of moving even further west to Witney, their performance has been used as an excuse to ring-fence the Premiership. That forgets that they were reasonably competitive when they upset the odds to gain promotion in 2012 at even shorter notice than this time around, and gained a number of wins, keeping well in touch with survival until a pivotal home loss to Sale late in the campaign. They'd earnt the right to compete again at this level, but, unfortunately have been patently unable to, failing to win a single game except for a friendly against Newport Gwent Dragons back in Richmond in March. They were notably more competitive in the knock-out competitions, with some tight results in both the European Challenge Cup and LV= Cup, in particularly in the latter, when a heavily modified Saracens side just forced a 20-15 win on a weekend which also saw Sarries face the Blue Bulls, but a victory still eluded them.

 

With relegation confirmed some weeks ago, the focus of Rowland Phillips' side is to get ready for a challenge in the Championship next year, with the core of the squad already in place, and twelve additional signings confirmed. One of the suggested reasons for the failings this time around was the number of changes made to the team, although this has been disputed by some. Welsh will consequently field a side similar to the one which lost 48-0 at Northampton Saints, but had some positive moments. That would see Seb Jewell at full back, with former Henley Hawk Alan Awcock and Chris Elder, signed from Plymouth, occupying the wings, and a centre partnership featuring the vastly experienced Tom May alongside Nic Reynolds, a former Wales under 20 player. In the half-backs, fly half Olly Barkley combined with scrum half Paul Rowley. Moving to the forwards, the front row comprised of loosehead Nathan Trevett, ever-present in the promotion-winning campaign, hooker Koree Britton and tighthead Ben Cooper, whilst Ben West and club stalwart Matt Corker teamed up at lock, and the back row included Daniel Browne, Darren Waters and Tongan international number 8 Opeti Fonua, who signed from Bayonne this season.

 

Saracens will be buoyed by the 78-7 win claimed against the Exiles back in December and a similar scoreline would be perfect, if unlikely, as the margins of defeats have become slightly smaller of late. You'd expect Sarries to find space to exploit, though, and if they improve their handling from that on display in the second half last week, there should be tries on offer. But, it is crucial that they take no changes and field the strongest possible line-up, which in practice, would not look that different from last week. Alex Goode, Chris Ashton and David Strettle should continue as the back three, with Marcelo Bosch and Brad Barritt perhaps in the centre, given the number of appearances for Chris Wyles. Charlie Hodgson has had a heavy workload lately too, so Owen Farrell may start, and Richard Wigglesworth might be rotated for Neil de Kock. Into the forwards, and Mako Vunipola will presumably continue at loosehead, with Schalk Brits coming in at hooker and Petrus du Plessis continuing at tighthead, with the lock combination of George Kruis and Maro Itoje remaining in situ. Back row-wise, Kelly Brown and Jacques Burger will probably remain, with Billy Vunipola perhaps returning from injury at 8. A commanding lead would then allow the bench to be emptied as the prospect of an extension to the season becomes more certain.