The Tight Five: This Week's Biggest Matches on Rugby Pass

We preview the five best matches to catch on Rugby Pass this week, from Super Rugby to Aviva Premiership, Super League to the NRL.

Super League: Wigan vs Widnes (Friday March 18, 4:00am HKT)
Six weeks into the season and Widnes Vikings find themselves in an unusual position – top of the Super League table. Last year’s 9th place club have gone 5-1 to start the new season, and demolished Hull FC last week with new Australian winger Corey Thompson scoring his ninth and tenth tries of the season to lead all scorers. Is it all just an early-season fluke? This weekend’s game may give some indication, with the Vikings traveling to meet the Super League heavyweight Wigan Warriors. If they can get a result – or even get close – then it’s all on for Widnes in 2016.

Super Rugby: Waratahs vs Highlanders (Friday March 18, 4:40pm HKT)
The Highlanders travel to Sydney this weekend for a rematch of their epic 2015 semi final against the Waratahs. They’ve already beaten the Hurricanes in a final rematch a couple of weeks ago, and looked back to their counterattacking best against the Lions last weekend. But the last few games have seen the injuries mount for the Highlanders, while the Waratahs come into this off the back of a nice refreshing bye. Could be even closer than last year’s semi final.

Aviva Premiership: Leicester vs Saracens (Saturday March 20, 11:15pm HKT)
If you love penalty tries then have we got a match for you. When these teams met earlier in the season Saracens scored a hat trick of penalty tries on their way to a 26-6 win. A hat trick of penalty tries! Amazing. Saracens went to the top of the Aviva Premiership table last weekend with a win over London Irish in New Jersey, while the Tigers’ loss to Wasps shunted them down to 5th. Saracens will travel to Leicester as favourites, but the Tigers have only lost one game at home all season.

Super Rugby: Stormers vs Brumbies (Sunday March 20, 1:10am HKT)
We’re only three weeks into the Super Rugby season and already the Brumbies look like firm favourites to win the whole competition this year. But could we be overrating them a bit? They haven’t been out of Australia yet, and will arrive in Cape Town this week to face a Stormers side steaming mad after a narrow and controversial loss to the Sharks last weekend. The Brumbies could have probably beaten the Force blindfolded last week – this will be a much sterner test of their title credentials.

NRL: Sea Eagles vs Sharks (Monday March 21, 4:00pm HKT)
A tantalising Monday Night Football matchup between one of the NRL’s most successful clubs and one of its perpetual strugglers, but based on their 2016 seasons so far you wouldn’t guess which was which. The Sharks destroyed the Dragons on Sunday afternoon, cheered on by a packed Shark Park and not one but two Sharks mascots. The Sea Eagles’ battled in a loss to the Tigers on Monday night, which saw them drop to 0-2 on the season. Take the Sharks on form, and for their superior mascot duo of MC Hammerhead (pictured) and Reefy.

Start your free trial of RugbyPass today and watch all this weekend’s games live, on demand and in HD on your TV, PC, Phone and Tablet.