Championship Rd 13
By Ml
January 21 2014
Greene King IPA Championship Round 13 Preview
The Greene King IPA Championship returns after a fortnight's break with Sunday's top-of-the-table clash between league leaders Leeds Carnegie and second-placed London Welsh at the Kassam Stadium taking star billing.
Carnegie travel south to Oxford in great shape, having made it through to the quarter-finals of the British & Irish Cup after a 24-19 victory over Bristol – their eighth win in a row.
It is a record matched by fellow B&I Cup quarter-finalists and Yorkshire rivals, Rotherham Titans, who reached the knockout stages of the B&I Cup for the first time with a 32-24 success at Bedford Blues.
The Titans' fine run of form has taken them to third in the table with a trip to struggling Jersey to come this Saturday. Jersey won last season's corresponding fixture 13-10.
Bristol will fancy their chances of cementing their place in the top four if their head-to-head record against Sunday's opponents Plymouth Albion is anything to go by.
Bristol have won the last 12 matches against the Devon side and have only lost once at home all season.
Fifth plays sixth at the Athletic Ground on Saturday with London Scottish and Cornish Pirates both needing to win to stay in touch with the top four.
Two tries from scrum-half Tom Kessell helped Pirates record a 16-8 victory at the Mennaye Field earlier this season.
Both of the previous Championship clashes at the Athletic Ground have been tight affairs with Scottish winning 25-24 in 2012/13 and Pirates 25-23 the year before.
A place in the Championship final was at stake the last time Bedford Blues and Nottingham met at Goldington Road.
Neither side are currently in contention for the top four this time around as the Blues, who went on to play Newcastle in last year's final, find themselves in 7th place, four points ahead of Nottingham in 10th. Nottingham won 26-24 on home soil earlier this season.
Two rapidly-improving sides meet at the foot of the table on Saturday when Moseley take on Ealing Trailfinders at Billesley Common.
Moseley have won their last three games at home in league and cup and are 10 points better off than Ealing, who, despite propping up the division, have taken nine points from their last two Championship away games.
Round 13 fixtures
Saturday January 25
Bedford Blues v Nottingham Rugby, KO 15:00
Jersey v Rotherham Titans, KO 15:00
London Scottish v Cornish Pirates, KO 15:00
Moseley v Ealing Trailfinders, KO 15:00
Sunday January 26
London Welsh v Leeds Carnegie, KO 14:30
Bristol Rugby v Plymouth Albion, KO 15:00
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Leeds Played 13 all the rest 12 - V Odd
http://clubs.rfu.com/Fixtures/MatchByDivision Click On league Table
RFU have corrected the table now ...
Greene King IPA Championship
Team Played Won Drawn Lost For Against Bonus Pts Points
1 London Welsh 12 10 0 2 351 181 5 45
2 Rotherham Titans 12 9 0 3 395 244 7 43
3 Leeds Carnegie 12 9 0 3 323 228 6 42
4 Bristol 12 8 0 4 324 246 11 42
5 London Scottish 12 8 0 4 297 181 5 37
6 Cornish Pirates 12 7 1 4 253 247 5 35
7 Bedford 12 4 0 8 246 295 6 22
8 Plymouth Albion 12 3 1 8 238 279 8 22
9 Moseley 12 4 1 7 223 306 1 19
10 Nottingham 12 3 1 8 226 309 4 18
11 Jersey 12 3 0 9 216 302 3 13
12 Ealing Trailfinders 12 2 0 10 140 414 1 9
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2014:01:22:18:18:22 by X~Pat.