Bristol Rugby will bid to head into the new year still sitting pretty atop the Greene King IPA Championship table as they sign off 2015 by hosting London Welsh on Sunday.
Despite heading into this clash at Ashton Gate off the back of a 34-17 defeat to Bedford Blues in the British & Irish Cup last time out, Bristol have won their last two Greene King IPA Championship games against London Scottish and Moseley.
And Andy Robinson's side can take comfort from the fact that their first win of the season came at London Welsh back in September, with Charlie Amesbury, Tom Varndell, Adrian Jarvis and Jack Tovey all scoring tries for a 36-22 victory in front of the Sky Sports cameras.
London Welsh's return to the Greene King IPA Championship hasn't all gone according to plan as they sit ninth in the table, but they head to Bristol buoyed by doing the double over Nottingham Rugby in the British & Irish Cup, the last victory seeing the Exiles triumph 24-0 thanks to two Gus Jones efforts and a penalty try.
The other side with hopes of ringing in the new year at the summit are Doncaster Knights who can go top with a bonus-point victory over Nottingham on Saturday.
The Knights will be looking to extend their unbeaten run to double figures as they haven't tasted defeat since losing to Yorkshire Carnegie on October 9.
In that time they have won their last five league clashes and welcome Nottingham to Castle Park having recorded a double over Newport Gwent Dragons in the British & Irish Cup.
As for Nottingham, those two defeats to London Welsh meant they exited the cup competition but they head north just outside the top four in the league having edged out Yorkshire Carnegie 14-13 last time out thanks to Paul Grant's second-half try.
Saturday also sees bottom side Ealing Trailfinders travel to eight-placed London Scottish looking for their third win of the season.
Ealing last tasted victory at London Welsh on November 7 and will be looking to make amends for a 37-17 defeat at the hands of Scottish earlier in the season – their first home match of the Greene King IPA Championship.
That day London Scottish ran in five tries – including two for captain Mark Bright – and they will be hoping to string together-back-to-back victories for the first time since October after their last league outing saw them triumph 21-16 over Rotherham Titans.
Bedford Blues currently occupy fourth in the table and they will be hoping to stay there come the new year as they travel to Moseley on Saturday.
Bedford's form in the Greene King IPA Championship has taken a hit after back-to-back defeats to Doncaster Knights and Cornish Pirates, but they did beat Moseley in their second game of the season 38-32 – Jake White crossing for one of six tries as well as kicking four conversions.
The first action of Sunday sees Cornish Pirates entertain a Jersey side on a four-game winning streak as well as winning their last two league trips on the road at London Scottish and Rotherham.
Despite losing last time out to Cardiff Blues in the British & Irish Cup, Cornish Pirates are also on a good run of form having won five straight before then, however it was Jersey who claimed the spoils earlier in the season as they edged their home fixture 17-15.
And in the final game of the round third-place Yorkshire Carnegie welcome local rivals Rotherham Titans as the hosts bid to get back to winning ways in the Greene King IPA Championship.
Carnegie have lost their last three league outings but they have been close calls, losing to both Bedford and Nottingham by just a single point and falling by only three to London Welsh.
In September's reverse fixture Chris Walker and Charlie Beech scored tries as Yorkshire Carnegie beat the Titans 20-11, with Rotherham making the short journey this time around in seventh after back-to-back league defeats.
Round 11 fixtures
Saturday December 26
Doncaster Knights v Nottingham, kick-off 2.30pm
London Scottish v Ealing Trailfinders, kick-off 3pm
Moseley v Bedford Blues, kick-off 3pm
Sunday December 27
Cornish Pirates v Jersey, kick-off 2pm
Bristol Rugby v London Welsh, kick-off 3pm
Yorkshire Carnegie v Rotherham Titans, kick-off 3pm
Doncaster Knights v Nottingham, kick-off 2.30pm Saturday
Knights XV: 15) Paul Jarvis, 14) Dougie Flockhart, 13) Mat Clark, 12) Will Hurrell, 11) Tyson Lewis, 10) Dec Cusack, 9) Michael Heaney, 1) Rich List, 2) Ben Hunter, 3) Colin Quigley, 4) Matt Challinor, 5) Jon Phelan, 6) Latu Makaafi, 7) Michael Hills ©, 8) Alex Shaw.
Replacements: 16) Vili Veikoso, 17) Ollie Stedman, 18) WillGriff John, 19) Tyler Hotson, 20) Simon Humberstone, 21) Andy Bulumakau, 22) Sam Edgerley.
Nottingham
1) Kieran Davies
2) Jack Singleton
3) Conor Carey
4) Ben Morris
5) Joe Green
6) Rupert Cooper
7) Matt Everard (C)
8) Paul Grant
9) Darryl Veenendaal
10) Dan Mugford
11) Pila Iongi
12) Heath Stevens
13) Ben Woods
14) Sam Coghlan Murray
15) Billy Robinson
Replacements:
16) JJ Broberg
17) Harry Morley
18) Tom Heard
19) Andrew Kitchener
20) Rob Langley
21) Murray McConnell
22) Lawrence Rayner
London Scottish v Ealing Trailfinders, kick-off 3pm Saturday
London Scottish
15 Peter Lydon 14 Jason Harries 13 Robbie Fergusson 12 Oli Grove 11 Rory Hughes 10 Dan Newton 9 George Horne 1 James Gibbons 2 Adam Kwasnicki 3 Matt Shields 4 Neale Patrick 5 Will Carrick Smith 6 Mark Bright (c) 7 Chris Walker 8 Freddie Clarke
Replacements: 16 Jack Cosgrove 17 David Cherry 18 Geoff Cross 19 Rory Bartle 20 Tyrone Moran 21 Matt Heeks 22 Lee Millar
Ealing Trailfinders
1 Will Davis
2 Rhys Lawrence (captain)
3 Michael Holford
4 Carwyn Jones
5 Adam Preocanin
6 Harrison Orr
7 Alex Bradley
8 Chris York
9 Alex Davies
10 Tristan Roberts
11 James Stephenson
12 Joe Munro
13 Sam Stanley
14 Callum Wilson
15 Luke Daniels
Reserves
16 Jamie Kilbane
17 Alun Walker
18 Sam Rodman
19 Llewelyn Jones
20 Arthur Ellis
21 Alex Walker
22 Will Harries
Moseley v Bedford Blues, kick-off 3pm Saturday
Mose
15. Charlie FOLEY; 14.Drew CHESHIRE; 13.Greg KING;
12.Aaron PINCHES; 11. Kyle EVANS; 10. Glyn HUGHES; 9. Sam BROWN
01.Tom FIDLER; 02.Adam CAVES; 03. Aaron GARDINER;
04.Greg CHARLTON; 05. Harry CASSON; 06. Aaron FLAGG;
07. Buster LAWRENCE; 08. Chris BRIGHTWELL (CAPT.)
Replacements: 16.Tom WARREN; 17. Scott TOLMIE; 18. Jordan ONOJAIFE;
19. Ed SIGGERY; 20. Harry HONE; 21. Scott ARMSTRONG;
22. Dave BRAZIER
Blues
15. Piers O'Conor
14. Pat Tapley
13. Michael LeBourgeois
12. Ollie Dodge
11. George Perkins
10. Myles Dorrian
9. Henry Taylor
1. Alex Lundberg
2. Sam James
3. Biyi Alo
4. Mike Howard
5. Mark Flanagan
6. Josh Buggea
7. Nick Fenton-Wells (c)
8. Joel Conlon
Replacements:
16. Charlie Clare
17. Phil Boulton
18. Harry Wells
19. Hayden Thomson-Stringer
20. Jordan Burns
21. Jake Sharp
22. Steffan Jones
Cornish Pirates v Jersey, kick-off 2pm Sunday
Cornish Pirates: 15 Toby May, 14 Jack Arnott, 13 Tom Hendrickson, 12 Rheon James, 11 Matt Evans, 10 Laurence May, 9 Stuart Townsend; 1 Marlen Walker, 2 Tom Channon, 3 Alan Paver, 4 Marcus Garratt, 5 Brett Beukeboom, 6 Aaron Carpenter (capt), 7 Joe Atkinson, 8 Laurie McGlone.
Replacements: 16 Rob Elloway, 17 Tyler Gendall, 18 Adam Jamieson, 19 Dan Lee, 20 Jake Parker, 21 Alex Day, 22 Max Bodilly.
Jersey (see full announcement HERE)
Backs (15-9)
Aaron Penberthy
Tom Howe
Oli Evans
Lewis Robling
Ross Adair
Brendan Cope
Sami Fisilau
Forwards (1-8)
Sam Lockwood
Martin Garcia-Veiga
Danny Herriott
Pierce Phillips
Will Rowlands
Alex Rae (capt)
Gary Graham
Uili Kolo'ofa'i
Replacements
Nacho Lancuba
Nick Selway
Oliver Tomaszczyk
James Freeman
Tommy Spinks
Jack Moates
Mark McCrea
Bristol Rugby v London Welsh, kick-off 3pm Sunday
Bristol: Jack Wallace; Tom Varndell, Jack Tovey, Gavin Henson, David Lemi (c); Adrian Jarvis, Will Cliff; Jack O'Connell, Marc Jones, Anthony Perenise, Glen Townson, Mark Sorenson, Nick Koster, Jack Lam, Mitch Eadie.
Replacements: Ross McMillan, Ellis Genge, Jamal Ford-Robinson, Joe Joyce, Craig Hampson, Matthew Morgan, Ben Mosses.
London Welsh: 15. Will Robinson, 14. Chris Elder, 13. Nic Reynolds, 12. Guy Armitage, 11. Josh Drauniniu, 10. Olly Barkley* (C), 9. Ryan Glynn, 1. Eddie Aholelei*, 2. Harry Allen, 3. Jack Gilding, 4. Josh McNally, 5. Ben West, 6. Jesse Liston, 7. Ryan Hodson, 8. Ben Pienaar.
Replacements: 16. Nathan Morris, 17. Darryl Marfo, 18. Ben Cooper, 19. Brendon Snyman, 20. Kieran Murphy, 21. Rob Lewis, 22. Seb Jewell.
* Denotes full international
Yorkshire Carnegie v Rotherham Titans, kick-off 3pm Sunday
Yorkshire Carnegie
15. Jonah Holmes
14. Taylor Prell
13. Pete Lucock
12. Harry Leonard
11. David Doherty
10. Kevin Sinfield
9. Chris Pilgrim
1. Charlie Beech
2. Phil Nilsen
3. Rob O'Donnell
4. Mike Myerscough
5. Chris Jones (c)
6. Richard Beck
7. Josh Bainbridge
8. Ryan Burrows
16. Jordan Poole
17. Lee Imiolek
18. Ben Hooper
19. Matt Smith
20. Andy Saull
21. Joel Hodgson
22. Andy Forsyth
Titans: 15 Sean Scanlon, 14 Michael Keating, 13 Lloyd Hayes, 12 Joe Barker, 11 Jack Hayes, 10 James McKinney, 9 Andy Davies, 1 Robin Hislop, 2 Charlie Maddison, 3 Lewis Thiede, 4 Toby Salmon, 5 Barney Maddison 6 Max Argyle, 7 Tom Calladine, 8 Tim Cree.
Replacements: 16 Jack Preece, 17 Michael Cromie, 18 Mark Tampin, 19 George Oram, 20 Ali Birch, 21 Luke Carter, 22 Ross Jones
