Beechen Cliff of Bath may have already won the boys’ title, but there is still a long road ahead for the girls’ division. The league has now been split into 2, with the top 5 all on 30-23 points, while no one in the bottom half has more than ten. What kind of round lies in wait for our top 5 title challengers?
Round 7 – Wednesday 10th December
Exeter College v Henley College
It is the perfect 30 against the basement college in round 7, as high-flying, undefeated Exeter hosts winless Henley. I’m afraid I can only see this game going one way. As Exeter’s men’s side also plays this week, in a postponed clash against SGS, it could be a fantastic week for the college. A chance for the lads to finish the ACE season unbeaten and a very good chance for the women to continue on that route. Wins away from home against Exeter are few and far between – good luck, weary travellers.
Loughborough v City of Oxford
A fine result last time out, all the way back in mid-November, cemented Oxford’s place amongst the runners and riders for the ACE title. They are currently sitting just one bonus point behind Loughborough in the table, who occupy 4th. This should be a tight game. Oxford have outscored Loughborough this season, but the Women in purple have the better defensive record, and have perhaps faced slightly tougher opponents so far. My money is with the home team, but this crucial game could go either way – they both need a win to keep pace with the top two.
Newman College v Bishop Burton
Newman grabbed their first win of the season at the start of November, two rounds ago, and have a chance to add to their tally today. A losing bonus point keeps Burton off the bottom of the table, and the south coast side have scored over 100 points this season, the most of the bottom 4. Fly-half Holly Jackson grabbed herself an England camp call-up before the break, and will hopefully pull the strings for Newman in this one, and help them to their second win of the season
Oaklands V SGS
These two sides can consider themselves the best of the rest, outside the title challenging top 5, and they both sit on ten points in sixth and seventh at the start of the road – it’s the stage in the season when stats start to tell the story, if you couldn’t tell. Oaklands picked up an away win in Yorkshire in the last round, while SGS were beaten by Worthing, and they may struggle to bounce back here against the Wolves. The Saracens outfit had 7 players in England camp a few weeks ago, and that experience and quality might help them over the line this round.
Worthing v Hartpury
This is the biggest game of the round by some distance. Hartpury, who currently make up almost half of the England U18 squad, take on Worthing, who make up the other half. Hartpury have slipped up once already this season, to Loughborough in an outstanding 38-34 boxing match of a fixture, and they cannot afford to do so again. Especially against an undefeated side like Worthing. The Acorns, last season’s beaten finalists and the record-time winner of ACE, will need to be at their very best when they head east for their biggest game of the season. Worthing know defeat does not mean the end of the road, with the top two both making a final, but it would be an almighty statement to pull off a win here, with both teams in this tie yet to face defending champions Exeter.
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