After an eight-week mid-season Six Nations hiatus Gallagher Premiership rugby returns with a bang this weekend with sparks expecting to fly.
With international duties coming to an end, all eyes are back focussed on another decisive period for the club game, both on and off the field.
Never before has the top flight in professional ruby gone into a eight-week mid-season hibernation, meaning there is now a high demand for every side to deliver action as captivating as the national side’s last two outings against France and Ireland.
Fans await an exciting run-in consisting of six more rounds of rugby to play, and just a handful out points separate the seven clubs between second and eighth place, who are all eyeing up a place in the top four.
Over the past two decades, the Premiership has failed to reach the heights of tournaments such as the Six Nations as well as The Rugby World Cup.
However, due to the positive response and amount of popularity the tournament did receive, there are hopes that the top flight will start to skyrocket through the nation.
This weekend’s London “derby” consisting of Harlequins and Saracens could be the start of this rise in popularity with the fixture being held at the Tottenham Hotspur stadium and close to being sold out.
Speaking ahead of the clash, Harlequins progressive chief executive Laurie Dalrymple said: “From an English perspective if we don’t harness that feel-good factor and take it into the club game then we’ve dropped the ball.”
Around 60,000 fans are expected to attend the Sarries-Quins showdown, indicating that now is a perfect time for the sport to escape its twilight zone and do its very best to blossom a new and warm era over these next 11 weeks.
