The biggest
surprise this weekend in Round 13 of the Aviva Premiership was
Saracens losing their winning streak on home turf to London Irish,
13-22. If this wouldn't stun you then I wouldn't know what would. A
quality team sitting top of the Premiership who've only been beaten
once prior to this encounter. What went wrong? I know Saracens are
without some of their regular first-team players due to their
involvement in the Six Nations, but surely dependency on them won't
gain then a place in the Premiership final?
So this is
where the irony begins. Three matches all won this weekend on the
smallest of margins. One point. Yes, you heard right.
Northampton Saints travelled to Sandy Park and left it until the
dying moments of the game to take control. George Pisi stormed the
try line and stole the win, 16-17 against the Exeter Chiefs, pushing
them to the top of the Aviva Premiership table after eight
consecutive Premiership wins.
And so to
Worcester, who welcomed Leicester Tigers to the Sixways Stadium. The
Warriors fought hard on home turf but just couldn't manage to seal
the deal. An unfortunate outcome for the home side, which didn't
reflect their game play. Worcester have struggled so far this season
but one would say that Tigers' ill-discipline saw an undeserved win
by just one point 22-23.
Now to the
London derby, where Harlequins took on the London Wasps. The last
encounter between these two sides resulted in a Quins triumph and a
one point score line. But even though history repeated itself this
weekend 11-10, it was Wasps who looked the likely winners. They had
consistency throughout the game, but fell at the final hurdle to a
late try by Sam Smith.
Bath were back
with a vengeance this weekend and sitting comfortably in third place
of the table. They're one of the most consistent sides playing at the
moment and proof was in the pudding, as they stormed to success at
the Rec to win 24-6 against Newcastle Falcons. Bath are a side who've
not shown any real struggle with the loss of players to the Six
Nations - due to strong squad development maybe?
Finally, to the
most predictable result of the weekend, Sale Sharks winning 24-19 to
Gloucester. I can't put my finger on what's not quite right in the
Gloucester pack, lack of enthusiasm maybe? With two yellow cards
shown in this game and a weak defence the loss was inevitable. A side
that's slowly slipping down the Premiership table, they need to
regain confidence and momentum to bounce back.
One's to watch
next weekend: it's all to play for in the South-West derby between
Exeter Chiefs and Bath in Round 14 of the Aviva Premiership.