Premiership round 6 review

Bath (Lost 10-16 to Gloucester)
With Olly Barkley gone, you’d think Bath struggle and, despite his status, Stephen Donald hadn’t made the impact you would expect.
But in 32 seconds, the All Black World Cup winner fly-half showed his class with a superb solo try. He picked his gap, outpaced the defence and scored. That’s the kind of form Bath will need if they want to challenge for a top 6 spot.
However it wasn’t enough on Saturday and they lost the West Country derby in the Shed. They put on a solid performance but they couldn’t capitalise on opportunities in the second half to give themselves a chance of winning.
Exeter (beat Harlequins 42-28)
With the prospect of facing Saracens, Leicester, Harlequins, Leinster and Clermont in five consecutive weeks, the Chiefs were promised hell. Well, they have won two from three so far and are traveling to Leinster for their Heineken Cup debut in superb form.
They scored five tries and ran the Champions of their feet, a luxury very few teams enjoyed in recent months.
Their pack is as good as the best in the league and they now also have the striking power out wide to score tries. If only they could carry this form away from Sandy Park, the Chiefs would almost be a certain top 4 finisher.
Gloucester (beat Bath 16-10)
The Cherry and Whites are now unbeaten since the opening round and sit in fifth position in the table after their West Country derby win.
Led by a once again superb Freddie Burns, who is putting his hand up for an England call week after week, they showed great composure to comeback into the game and dominate up front.
Bath enjoyed a fair share of the possession but Gloucester’s defence was well organised to keep them at bay.
They will have to confirm against the “big boys” (Tigers and Quins) after the European break to see whether they have top 4 potential or not.
Harlequins (lost 28-42 to Exeter)
This is not the kind of form Quins wanted to bring into the Heineken Cup. Two consecutive defeats before facing Biarritz in crucial clash next week.
They couldn’t put their game in place and against a Chiefs side on fire, they made mistakes which Exeter capitalised on.
Even though they rested Joe Marler and Danny Care, the starting lineup is often the same and, bar one or two players, they play 80 minutes week-in week-out. Is starting to pay its toll?
Leicester (beat Sale 20-8)
Veni, Vidi, Vici! They came, they saw, they conquered!
Against a Sale side desperate to win, the Tigers showed why they are the best in the business. They came off the bus, did the job and left.
It wasn’t the prettiest of games but they did what they had to do get the four points.
In his first outing though, George Ford showed all his potential to stir the team well around the park with an efficient passing and kicking game.

London Irish (beat Northampton 39-17)
A flash in the pan? Maybe, but Irish certainly showed what everyone knew they could do.
With that much skills and speed in the back line, it was only a matter of time before they would strike. As ever in rugby, the backs will only grab the headlines if the pack does the unrecognised hard work up front to launch them which is what they did on Saturday.
They’ve proved over the years, they’re able to go from the sublime to the awful from one week to the other. They’ll need more of that sublime to climb up the table and in top 6 contention.
London Wasps (beat Worcesrer 10-6)
A much needed win for the men in black. It wasn’t pretty but on the road to recovery, a win is a win.
The forwards put on an improved performance but they couldn’t control the ball for long enough to produce good ball for their lethal back line.
Dai Young said before the game, a win would put Wasps where he was expecting them to be after six games. Well, 8th with 13 points. the half term report read: Better than last term and showed how good they can be. More consistency up front will be needed if they want to bring Heineken Cup rugby back at Adams Park.
London Welsh (lost 23-28 to Saracens)
It could have been a fairytale start for Gavin Henson. With the clock showing 80 minutes, London Welsh were on the attack putting the Saracens scrum to the sword. If they scored, Henson would have had the kick to win the game and become an instant hero. But they didn’t and had to settle for a losing-bonus point.
They scored a break away try but then, for an hour, they were ultra dominated. They bended but they didn’t break though and, when Tom Arscott scored a superb try started by Henson, they were somehow back within five points.
This London Welsh outfit is a tough nut to crack and with another point to their name and are now nine points clear of Sale.
Northampton (lost 17-39 to London Irish)
Apart from losing their unbeaten record which was always going to happen at some point, this is not the kind performance you want a week before you start your European campaign.
They were dominated in the set piece and put on the back foot all game long against a desperate Exiles side.
Foden and Wilson absence was more than felt in the backs while Hartley go-forward and leadership was clearly lacking up front. They’ll have to pick themselves up before the reception of the in-form Glasgow Warriors on Saturday.

Sale (lost 8-20 to Leicester)
Winless and eight points adrift at the bottom of the table, is it too late already?  I don’t think so.
Yes they did conceded their sixth defeat in as many game but they showed a lot of improvement on Friday.
That physicality, that urgency, that willingness to put your body on the line seems to be back for the Sharks‘ forwards. This is a good platform to work from.
This is a very close league and if they manage to put a couple of wins together, they’ll be back and who knows, with momentum, that top 6 finish might still be on the card after all.
Saracens (beat London Welsh 28-23)
If you look at the possession and territory statistics, you’d think Saracens won by 50. But they didn’t.
Charlie Hodgson scored all his team’s points including a try but Saracens couldn’t capitalise an their domination to take the game away. Without disrespect to London Welsh, this game should have been over by half-time.
Instead they never managed to get away and had a lucky escape on that last scrum.
Worcester (lost 6-10 to London Wasps)
Their try-scoring form stop abruptly on Sunday. Just like Wasps they couldn’t control the ball to put their game in place. They were back to the “old” Worcester and that must win game turned out to be a scrappy one.
They still got a losing bonus-point out of the game though and they should get two comfortable wins in the Amlin Cup against Gernika and Rovigo in the next two weeks to put them in good stead when their Premiership campaign resumes with the reception of Sale.