The traditional festive season local derbies are set to take centre stage as the RaboDirect PRO12 round 11 provides an exciting escape from turkey and TV. The games in Scotland and Wales take place on Boxing Day, whilst Ireland foregoes St Stephens’ Day games and sticks to the traditional Friday and Saturday evening slots.
Local bragging honours between Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland are enhanced by the awarding of the 1872 Cup to the aggregate winner over two legs, and Glasgow Warriors will be keen to retain that trophy for a fifth year.
In Wales too the games take on a very local nature in Newport/Cardiff and Llanelli/Swansea avoiding the necessity of a long trip up the M4 motorway. By the New Year we should know who is best in the east as well as the west of Wales, setting the scene nicely for the ‘Judgement Day’ double header at the Millennium Stadium in April.
On Friday evening, table topping Munster welcome Connacht to Thomond Park, when the hosts will be aiming to extend their lead at the top even further, whilst on Saturday afternoon the attention turns to Treviso in Italy, the home side not having had a game for two weeks as their Round 10 fixture in Glasgow was called off due to a waterlogged pitch.
The round wraps up Saturday evening with the repeat of last year’s final when champions Leinster welcome Ulster back to the RDS for the first time since their loss there last May. Due to construction work Ravenhill was unavailable for the final but the Ulster fans travelled in their thousands to Dublin to create a ‘home away from home’ atmosphere, and many will repeat the trip to see if their team can be avenged.
In all it promises to be bumper festive feast of rugby.
