Northampton v Leicester

If there had not been such an exceptional match on Friday night (Sale beat London Irish 14-8), this East Midlands derby would almost automatically claim game of the weekend. There will be no atmosphere to match Franklin's Gardens, especially if the home side can maintain their superb start to the season at home.

They may have only garnered one point on their travels but their 18 points at home make them look secure already for survival in their first season back in the big time. Only Bath have managed anything other than defeat here when they secured a late draw. Leicester are above them in the table but the home side will expect to win this game.

The Tigers are playing with their traditional vast resources of will power but in truth they are no better a team than they were a year ago. There is a lack of shape and cutting edge and when the considerable resources at their disposal are considered, they remain one of the more disappointing teams thus far this season.

There is an austerity to their game which makes them a gruelling prospect for opponents and supporters, a little beauty from the ranks now and then would not go amiss. Instead of scrapping half a game some of the Geordan Murphy magic would not go amiss. His feisty but incomplete form sums the Tigers up.

Maybe he will be inspired by the challenge of Ben Foden who keeps Bruce Reihana out of the team after a dazzling one man demolition job on Bristol last weekend. The Tigers will have to kick with accuracy to check the pace and power of the would-be scrum half who is the very essence of a flying full back.

Leicester’s hopes will rest broadly on a back row which has the balance and ballast to compete with the best. Jordan Crane gives the ball less oxygen for Leicester than he did when he appeared such a fine ball player in the Churchill Cup but he does a manful job. Either side of him are two equally lean but contrasting talents. Lewis Moody took giant strides back to his best after injury against Bath last week while Tom Croft seemed again, to light the league up. Pace, hands, an eye for the opening and an acute rugby brain; he should be an automatic in the England team. If continues to play at his current level he surely will be sooner rather than later.

If there is one area where the Tigers may edge a priceless away win it could be in the back row where a five week ban for Ulsterman Roger Wilson further stretches the strength in depth of a unit deprived of Neil Best’s services for several months. The ban, by the way, is an absolute disgrace. Had he been an English international I would have been surprised if the case had come to court. I watched the incident with Will Greenwood and Dewi Morris again this week at Sky and the three of us gasped in despair at the verdict when we saw the offence.

Bath v Wasps

Finally our eye is drawn west to Bath who threw away a game they should have won at Leicester but looked serious title contenders for over an hour. They rested several key players who will doubtless return for the home match where a win is now essential, rather than just the bonus it perhaps would have been before kick off last Sunday.

Wasps are the opponents and opponents in a strikingly similar position to when they faced Bath in the early part of the new year last season. Off the pace but hanging on in contention. They are still a long way from their best but they have been scraping the wins together. If they repeat last season’s stunning second half comeback they will be back in the equation for the play-offs while Bath’s credentials as champions will be severely questioned.

The match will be billed, by we chattering rugby media men, as the in-form Butch James against the out of form Danny Cipriani. In fact the Wasps man showed glimpses of his old young self in the win against Harlequins but it was a couple of charged down kicks that grabbed the headlines.

There is not room for charge downs, or errors this week because the margin for Wasps is going to be a thin one if they are to win and remain real contenders. I just cannot see them winning this game - which is normally the cue for Wasps to strike. They will need to play better than they have all season to keep their Premiership hopes alive. My money is firmly (and metaphorically) on Bath.