{"id":370243,"date":"2025-12-25T04:24:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/370243\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T04:24:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T04:24:08","slug":"3-must-watch-matches-in-gallagher-prem-rugby-in-round-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/370243\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Must-Watch Matches In Gallagher PREM Rugby In Round 8"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.florugby.com\/collections\/tag\/premiership-rugby?view=live-and-upcoming\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">Gallagher PREM Rugby season<\/a> rolls to the eighth round, as Bath Rugby continues to be the class of the league.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The defending champions improved to 6-0-1 on the season with seven bonus points, and the loaded squad now has a three-point lead over the next four clubs.<\/p>\n<p>But that shows just how deep the PREM is this season.<\/p>\n<p>The second and third spots on the table are tied with 28 points and matching 5-1-1 records, with Exeter getting the slight edge over the Northampton Saints.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Saints were arguably the best team in the Investec Champions Cup\u2019s first two pool matches, while Exeter may be the favorite to win the EPCR Challenge Cup.<\/p>\n<p>If the playoffs started this week, it would be the Leicester Tigers \u2014 who have a two-point lead over the Bristol Bears on the table \u2014 sneaking into the field.<\/p>\n<p>But the playoffs decidedly don\u2019t start this holiday week.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Here are three must-watch matches in Gallagher PREM Rugby Round 8 as clubs try to close out 2025 with a win:<\/p>\n<p>Bath Rugby vs. Northampton Saints, 12:30 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 27<\/p>\n<p>FloRugby\u2019s Match of the Week pits the two best teams from the PREM all season \u2014 and the last two Gallagher PREM champions \u2014 head-to-head.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Christmas comes early for rugby fans here, as Northampton, which went 2-0-0 and picked up two bonus-point wins in Champions Cup play this month, tries to catch up with Bath, which went 1-0-1 with a win over Munster and a loss at Toulon in Champions Cup play.<\/p>\n<p>Bath enters the match having smashed Newcastle 50-14, while the Saints did the same against an even better club, Sale, in a 47-21 win. These are the two best teams in England clashing for the first time this season.<\/p>\n<p>Exeter Chiefs vs. Leicester Tigers, 10 a.m., Sunday, Dec. 28<\/p>\n<p>These are the second- and third-best clubs all season in the PREM.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Chiefs\u2019 bounce-back season has been one of the stories of the year in Gallagher play.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Exeter went 4-0-14 last season and finished ninth on the table, failing to qualify for the Champions Cup. But that was last season, and the lads from Sandy Park are roaring this year.<\/p>\n<p>But is the roar louder than a Tigers team that has won three matches in a row in the PREM?\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The Tigers may be sitting at 0-0-2 in Champions Cup play, but they can narrow the two-point gap that separates them from the third and fourth spots in the standings with a win. Expect Sandy Park to be loud on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Sale Sharks vs. Harlequins, 12:30 p.m., Friday, Dec. 26<\/p>\n<p>Boxing Day\u2019s lone Gallagher PREM matchup features two clubs fighting to stay alive in the playoff chase \u2014 though it\u2019s getting pretty bleak for both talented sides.<\/p>\n<p>All the momentum the Quins built in their two strong Champions Cup pool performances didn\u2019t carry over into Round 7. They were manhandled by the Bristol Bears at Allianz Stadium (Twickenham), 40-14. It was a fairly stunning result given how the Quins played Leinster in Dublin and how they crushed Bayonne 68-14 the weekend before.<\/p>\n<p>The Sharks, meanwhile, were bulldozed by the Saints after having beaten Clermont the week prior.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Standings-wise, both clubs will need massive finishes to 2025 and strong starts to 2026 to get back into the playoff chase \u2014 the Quins are 16 points behind the Tigers, and the Sharks are 13 back.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, with matching 2-0-5 records in the PREM, both are one bad weekend away from seeing Gloucester creep into the top 8.<\/p>\n<p>Subscribe To Watch Rugby All Year Long With A FloRugby Annual Subscription<\/p>\n<p>A FloRugby annual subscription delivers live coverage of PREM Rugby, the Top 14, URC, the EPCR Challenge Cup and the Investec Champions Cup throughout the season.<\/p>\n<p>Gallagher PREM Round 8 Schedule<\/p>\n<p>Friday, Dec. 26<\/p>\n<p>12:30 PM ET \u2013 Sale Sharks vs. Harlequin F.C.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday, Dec. 27<\/p>\n<p>10 AM ET \u2013 Bristol Bears vs. Newcastle Red Bulls10:05 AM ET \u2013 Gloucester Rugby vs. Saracens F.C.12:30 PM ET \u2013 Bath Rugby vs. Northampton Saints<\/p>\n<p>Sunday, Dec. 28<\/p>\n<p>10 AM ET \u2013 Exeter Chiefs vs. Leicester TigersEuropean Union Rugby Lives On FloSports And FloRugby<\/p>\n<p>Rugby fans can stream every match from the Top 14, Gallagher Premiership and United Rugby Championship on FloRugby, along with the Investec Champions Cup and EPCR Challenge Cup, making the platform the U.S. home for the world\u2019s biggest club competitions and the game\u2019s top players.<\/p>\n<p>How To Watch Rugby Matches In The United States On FloRugby<\/p>\n<p>Professional club rugby in Europe all streams on FloRugby and the FloSports app in the United States. FloRugby and FloSports also are the U.S. home to:\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>FloRugby also is home to match archives and match replays.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Join The Rugby Conversation On FloRugby Social<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Gallagher PREM Rugby season rolls to the eighth round, as Bath Rugby continues to be the class&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370244,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[567],"tags":[64,63,760,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-370243","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rugby","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-rugby","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370243","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370243"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370243\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370243"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370243"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370243"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}