Bristol Rugby made bookies’ favourites to win Championship
Posted on: 03 Aug 2017The club, who were relegated to the Greene King Championship at the end of the 2016/17 season, are the firm favourites to return to the Premiership at the first time of asking.
Betway have made Bristol Rugby their favourites to win the 2017/18 Greene King Championship, giving the club 4/11 odds of immediately returning to the Aviva Premiership.
These are much shorter than those given to those immediately behind them, with Yorkshire Carnegie valued at 4/1 of taking the title. The Headingley-based side were beaten in last year’s play-off final by London Irish, who won promotion to the the Premiership.
Last year’s campaign was a dismal one for Bristol, who began their residency at Ashton Gate in poor fashion. Aside from a notable one-point triumph over arch rivals Bath in February, the 2016/17 campaign did not represent much to write home about for the boys in blue, who were unceremoniously (and unsurprisingly) dumped from the Aviva Premiership in May.
.jpg "Pat Lam")
A new beginning brings with it a fresh opportunity to build anew, and Bristol will regroup under new head coach Pat Lam (above) and conspire to ensure that Ashton Gate is transformed back into a bastion of Premiership rugby at the first time of asking.
The promotion campaign comprises 22 fixtures of tough rugby, with 11 of these coming at the Gate. It is here that they face Hartpury on Sunday 3rd September to kick off the Championship season, against whom it will conclude with an away visit on Saturday April 28th – the final day.
Between these Hartpury-shaped bookends lie tough tests against the likes of Yorkshire Carnegie, Ealing Trailfinders and Doncaster Knights, who will all be relishing the chance to take the scalp of the new boys.
The full fixture list is as follows #packthegate.
.jpg "Bristol Rugby fixtures")
For more from Bristol Rugby, visit www.bristolrugby.co.uk or hit them up on Facebook.
Article by:
An ardent Geordie minus the accent, Sam seemingly strove to get as far away from the Toon as possible, as soon as university beckoned. Three undergraduate years at UoB were more than ample time for Bristol (as it inevitably does) to get under his skin, and so here he remains: reporting, as Assistant Editor, on the cultural happenings which so infatuated him with the city. Catch him at sam@365bristol.com.
