Premiership round 5 review
The West Country side were bidding farewell to Olly Barkley who is off to Racing Metro today and they did it in style.
A dominant performance to put them back on the winning tracks but how will they react without him? He’s the competition top-point-scorer with 81 points and his goal-kicking accuracy will be missed.
World Cup winner Stephen Donald hasn’t been a success so far and Tom Heathcote is still sidelined with a knee injury. 18-year-old Ollie Devoto and Sam Vesty will have big boots to fill.
Another notable performance came from Dave Wilson who celebrated his call up to the England EPS with a barnstorming try.
Exeter (lost 30-8 to Leicester)
The Chiefs were in good spirit after their win over Saracens but they had the unfortunate task to travel to Leicester who were looking to make amend.
When the Tigers are in that mood there’s not much you can do. A lot of team have been on the receiving hand of it and a lot will in the future.
They now face Quins, Leinster and Clermont in the next three weeks. It’s going to be tough but there is no doubt they’re not just going to accept defeat and will put a fight in an attempt to upset the big boys.
Gloucester (beat London Welsh 31-25)
The Cherry and Whites were wearing blue yesterday and they had to dig deep to eventually dominate the newcomers.
They struggle in the breakdown but, led by a once again superb Freddie Burns, they showed they can score from anywhere and took their chances well to score tree tries.
It was far from perfect but it’s better to keep working when you’re winning especially with the derby against Bath coming up on Saturday.
Harlequins (Lost 18-16 to Saracens)
After what he has done for the club since his arrival it would be too easy to hang Nick Evans dry after that defeat but the usually so reliable kiwi fly-half had a tough day at the office yesterday.
Four from eight from the tee including two late misses which could have won it for the champions.
Their discipline at the breakdown was their downfall and it fell like they ran out of option in attack against the superb Saracens defence.
They’ll have to pick themselves up at Exeter next week before a crucial Heineken Cup clash against Biarritz at The Stoop which could decide the outcome of their European campaign.
Leicester (beat Exeter 30-8)
The Tigers losing at home is a rare sight. The Tigers losing at home twice in consecutive weeks just doesn’t happen.
They turned on the style to make sure they didn’t feel like they did last week after the Quins game. The forwards put them on the front foot to launch the back line and one man was at the end of it.
Adam Thompstone scored a brilliantly taken hat-trick on his debut to help the Tigers cross the try-line for the first time in three games in good stead two weeks before the start of the Heineken Cup.
London Irish (lost 35-11 to Worcester)
There were signs of improvement last week but they went back to their bad habit of conceding soft tries to give themselves no chance of winning.
They’ve got the best defensive coach in the game and a great attack-minded head coach in Shaun Edwards and Brian Smith but the players don’t seem to respond.
They’re going to have to sort it out quickly because at this rate and in current form, the relegation battle will be between them and Sale.
London Wasps (lost 24-6 to Northampton)
The men in black had been very promising so far this season since their first game against the Champions at HQ but Saints put them to the sword in set pieces on Friday. They had no platform to put their game in place.
The lineout didn’t work as well as usual but the big talking point has to be the scrum. They need a world class tight-head if they want to be able to compete in the top half of the table and challenge for play-offs spot.
You can’t expect to win a game if you give a penalty away at every single scrum. They need a big reaction at Adams Park next week against Worcester.
London Welsh (lost 31-25 to Gloucester)
It’s only been five weeks but Welsh have already proven they are worthy of their place in the Premiership.
They took Gloucester to the wire yesterday and there is no doubt others will struggle against them in the next few months.
Their work at the breakdown and set pieces are right up there and, even though their back line is not a sharp as others, any team will face a tough battle facing them.
Northampton (beat London Wasps 24-6)
The Saints are now the only unbeaten team left in the competition and sit on top of the table with five wins.
Once again their pack put them on the front foot and they showed that despite the injury to Ben Foden and George Pisi, they have enough striking power in the back to tear defences apart.
Luther Burrell is having a great start of the season at inside centre and could well be wearing a white jersey very comes February.
But the performance of the weekend in the Premiership goes to Courtney Lawes. He’s back a stone heavier and hunted down any Wasps’ ball carrier to put a storming performance from blindside, arguably his best position.
Sale (lost 31-10 to Bath)
They were expecting a reaction after the sacking of Steve Scott and Steve Diamond taking over as forward coach but instead they put on another poor performance to concede their fifth defeat in as many game.
The alarm bells have to be ringing loud. They can’t put a good performance together to put themselves in a position of winning.
This is going to be a long season for the Sharks.
Saracens (beat Harlequins 18-16)
What a performance from Saracens. They couldn’t break the Quins defence but they worked ever so hard to come on top.
They ran the ball to great effect and put a Harlequins side starved of possession on the back foot to earn penalties and keep the score board ticking over.
They then defended really well to halt a late charge by Quins and snatch the win. After, two disappointing performances Owen Farrell bounced back to kick a perfect six from six and get the goods.
Worcester (beat London Irish 35-11)
Richard Hill told us before the game at Northampton last week the Warriors would keep playing that new style of rugby because they were on the gasp of doing something special.
Well, he must have been talking about that game on Friday. Their first ever bonus-point win in the Premiership.
They’ve been playing really well so far this season to be the fourth best attack in the league scoring 131 points and 12 tries already (they scored 23 in the whole of last season…).
If they keep playing this way they could be an outside bet for a top 6 finish.
