Leicester 44 - 34 Sale

Andy Farrell selected a strong, 38-man squad for the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia but, inevitably, some big names missed out. Below I'll go through the five players I thought were unlucky to miss out as well as taking a guess at what kept them from making it.

On Thursday the 8th of May at 2pm, Andy Farrell will announce his British and Irish Lions squad for their tour to Australia later this year in front of a crowd that will hopefully be somewhere in the region of 2,000 people. In this post I go through the biggest contenders for each position in the 37-man squad and give my choices. 

On Friday night, Sale and Saracens met in a battle of Premiership heavyweights and Sale came out on top. It was a tight game with the separation being Sale's physicality and some individual brilliance from Aaron Reed who pretty much ran the length of the pitch to score for the home side. This win continues Sale's impressive run of form which looks to be setting them up in good position for a home playoff game if they can squeeze past Leicester. Saracens, meanwhile, are still firmly in the hunt but will have to regather themselves after a significant knock-back.

Kickoff: 7:45pm Friday

Kickoff: 7:45pm Friday 

The 13th round of Gallagher Premiership fixtures saw some cracking games. The second-choice west country derby did not disappoint, Northampton made the Friday night appetiser more appealing than many expected and Exeter provided plenty of late drama to finish off the Saturday portion. On Sunday, two big beast of English rugby tor chunks out of each other for 80 minutes until an injury-struck Saracens emerged victorious. Below are the major takeaways from each fixture before the quick European break.

Kickoff: 7:45pm Friday, TNT Sports

The 12th week of Gallagher Premiership fixtures took place this last weekend and were the second round of derby games this season. On Friday night, Leicester humbled Northampton and Sale waltzed past Newcastle. On Saturday, Harlequins won a big victory at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Bristol beat Exeter in a game so mad I don't know how to describe it. The climax of the weekend came in the west country as Bath beat Gloucester once again. Here are the big headlines from those games.

Kickoff: 7:45pm Friday TNT Sports