Worcester worth a wager when they welcome Harlequins

Worcester v Harlequins
BT Sport 1, 7.45pm Friday
Scarlets v Ulster
Premier Sports 1, 7.35pm Friday
Leinster v Ospreys
Premier Sports 2, 7.35pm Friday

Worcester look worth a wager to give up one point in beating Harlequins in an entertaining televised Premiership encounter on the artificial surface at Sixways.

Back-to-back defeats to Saracens, in the Premiership Cup, and at Bath, in the league, should not mask the fact that the Warriors are in fine fettle at present. They gained the try-bonus they needed at Allianz Park to be in pole position to grab a semi-final spot when the cup resumes next year and visits to the Rec tend to be tough whatever side Bath put out and it was a tight battle for an hour.

Home director of rugby Alan Solomons named strong sides, containing several ex-internationals and proven top club-level performers, in their first two cup games during the autumn international window and was rewarded with try-bonus victories.

Before that, Worcester won their European Challenge Cup clashes with Stade Francais and Ospreys cosily and two out of their last three Premiership outings, including a sensational success at Leicester.

Teenage flanker Ted Hill has made such an impression that Eddie Jones gave him an England debut off the bench against Japan last Saturday while much-travelled former Springboks scrum-half Francois Hougaard and out-of-favour Scotland fly-half Duncan Weir work well together at half-back, enabling a pace-and-power Warriors backline to prosper.

Quins boss Paul Gustard sends out a strong selection, including Danny Care on the bench, in a bid to build-on last week's 20-7 home success over Newcastle.

However, the Falcons were disrupted by injuries at the Stop and the scoreline does not reflect how much of a nuisance they were at the set-piece and breakdown. And while they stunned Gloucester at Kingsholm on their last Premiership away day, the impression is that Harlequins are still sketchy on the road. They have lost at Bristol and Northampton this term and were beaten 44-13 at Sixways in April.

Even with all the autumn international absentees, the three Pro14 clashes are worthy of attention and Leinster and Scarlets should be backed to ease away from opponents Ospreys and Ulster.

Champions Leinster are switching in players seamlessly again this campaign, particularly in Dublin, and while the Liberty lads have plenty of seasoned campaigners in their ranks, they lost 29-20 at home to Glasgow at the start of the month and were brushed aside 49-13 by Munster on an early season trip to Cork.

Shorn of their Wales stars, Scarlets were not at their fluent best for back-to-back away trips to the Kings and Edinburgh before the break but they still racked up the points in Port Elizabeth and made Edinburgh work hard for their victory and home comforts should inspire their forwards. Ulster won 15-10 at Benetton in their last outing but they struggled for ascendancy and while they also prevailed at the Kings, they then drew at the Cheetahs and were walloped at Munster on their return.

Glasgow against Cardiff (Freesports, 7.35pm) is likely to have more emphasis on attack than defence and Warriors centre Nick Grigg looks a cracking price for a try. Niko Matawalu hogged the headlines with his hat-trick at the Ospreys but Grigg grabbed a five-pointer too and made several line-breaks.

Recommendations
Worcester -1
1pt 5-6 Betway
Leinster -9
1pt 10-11 Coral. Hills, Ladbrokes
Scarlets -7
1pt 10-11 general
N Grigg to score a try in Glasgow v Cardiff
1pt 11-4 Betfair

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