The
Aviva Premiership round 5 booted up with a boom under the Friday
night lights at a packed Rec of 13,314 fired up fans and spotlights
on the enormous expectations riding high on Bath and Saracens. The
key question being; will this be a night of firsts? Will Bath
replicate their ‘wrecking ball’ performance against Tigers and be
the first team to beat first placed Saracens this season? Well it
was a weekend of firsts – little did we know!
Burgeoning
Bath set out their stall early, displaying their ever-improving
credentials, leap-frogging Sarries in the table with a 21-11 victory;
their first win over Sarries since 2010. Bath’s pumped-up pack and
dazzling backs silkily outplayed and outclassed the visitors and if
George Ford’s kicking had been more accurate, the winning margin
would have been 14 points greater. But Bath powerfully pierced the
pod that has so far remained indomitable. The dynamic duo of
Jonathan Joseph and Kyle Eastmond bulldozed through and skirted round
the Pack to score Bath’s tries while Chris Wyles crossed for
Saracens in a gripping encounter. The all round strength, speed and
skills of Semesa Rokoduguni earning him the accolade, Man of the
Match. Bath coach Mike Ford said; “We missed a few kicks at goal
but our defence was awesome and we scored a couple of good tries.
It’s a great scalp for us.” Saracens
Director of Rugby Mark McCall said;“We gave a lot of set piece
penalties which affected the momentum of the match. We found it hard
to break them down. Bath deserved the win" The game was definitely
bossed by Bath. Showcasing fantastic speeds and rip-roaring rugby and
there will be more eureka moments to come - Sam Burgess - this ship
is sailing - welcome aboard!
Northampton
Saints are the new League leaders after round five, thanks in the
main to their kicking metronome, Stephen Myler. He kicked four
penalties and a conversion as they beat London Irish 19 -12 at the
Madjeski Stadium. The only try of the game came from Northampton's
England centre Luther Burrell just before half time, his strength
enabling him to beat two tacklers to score in the corner and finish
an attack launched by Ken Pisi from inside his own half. Saints led
9-0 at the interval and then Myler and Shane Gerahty played penalty
ping-pong in the second half. A little bit of rugby tedium. But on
the positive side, looking to the future, London Irish Director of
Rugby, Brian Smith observed, "You've
got to be in the contest at the back end against these big teams and
then you need to be able to put them away and that's the next step we
need to take.” Jim Mallinder said about their opponents, "They
played well today, particularly in the second half and put us under
pressure. We learnt some
lessons from the Wasps defeat that we need to keep building pressure
particularly when you are away from home." This is a game that
could have gone either way –
not a convincing win by any means – but a testament to the fact
that several teams are rapidly improving, week on week and London
Irish are one of them.
It's
been a long time coming but at long last Newcastle Falcons and their
faithful fans really have something to celebrate! The Falcons
recorded their first win of this season when they welcomed Exeter
Chiefs to Kingston Park on Sunday and just as importantly, their
first win in 21 Premiership matches in a see-saw match, which ended
29 - 24. The Chiefs were quick off the mark with one of this
season’s stand out players, Thomas Waldrom scoring after just four
minutes and subsequently Ben White adding to the try count before
Sinoti Sinoti went over for the Falcons. Reliable Henry Slade gave
Exeter their third try, but Newcastle countered with three penalties
from Juan Socino to make it 14 - 15 at half-time. Socino and
Steenson traded penalties after the break, but the decisive moments
came in the last quarter of this electric game, Catterick went over
for Falcons, with Socino converting and then 11-minutes from the end
when the Falcons' winger Noah Cato scored in the corner to send the
home fans home jubilant. Man of the Match was Ally Hogg who kicked
into the stand from a scrum, onto the Newcastle line, which was to
lead to the end of the Falcons losing streak. Exeter Chiefs must
have been more than smarting on their flight home to Exeter. Dean
Richards, the Falcons' Director of Rugby was delighted. “People say
is it relief or whatever, but it is not relief. This has been coming
for a little while...this is a side which is moving forward, and now
at last we have some results to back up the improved style of play we
have been showing. It will be a real confidence-booster to the
players and it is a very different changing room." The Falcons
visit bottom of the table London Welsh next week. Now this will be
an interesting and pivotal match. But whatever the outcome,
fantastic form Falcons!!
Three
tries and superb strength in defence saw Sale Sharks beat Wasps 25 -
14 in a shock result at the AJ Bell Stadium on Sunday. Sharks led
12- 7 at half time, thanks to patient teamwork enabling Tom Arscott
to dive over and quick thinking opportunism from Chris Cusiter as he
pounced when Christian Wade fumbled behind the whitewash; charge down
tricks now growing in prevalence throughout the Premiership. Danny
Cipriani added the extras being the only successful kick out of five
in the first half. Wasp’s response was in exerting pressure in
their driving game and for 20 minutes they dominated. The reward
being when Nathan Hughes powered over from close range. In the next
40, Cipriani widened the lead with a drop goal and penalty and then
Wade redeemed himself by scrambling through the Sale defence to set
up a tense finish. But in response, four minutes from the end, a
quick lineout saw the ball spun along the Sale line for Tom Brady to
dive over in the corner; Cipriani’s boot now obeying. Just what
the Sharks need before they head to meet Premiership Champions Saints
in round 6. Dai Young’s men let Sale in at the scrum and coupled
with infringements, they lost the game. Similar to George Ford on
Friday, Cipriani kicking the points needs practice but there is still
everything to play for. After the match Steve Diamond, Sale’s
Director of Rugby said, “There was a relief in the changing room as
we needed the win; What we’ve tried to do is not stress the team
and put them under too much pressure. But there is a time when the
talking has to stop and the lads have to go out and deliver. And even
though we didn’t have much territory, we deserved the win.” Tom
Arscott is now the Premiership's leading try scorer. Sale Sharks
have left the harbour.
It
was a glorious day in Gloucester on Saturday as the Cherry and Whites
welcomed Leicester Tigers to Kingsholm. There seemed an air of
determination and intent from both teams and a brilliant buzz around
the ground. It was a battle of the boot for the majority of the
first half with both Greig Laidlaw and Owen Williams slotting three
penalties apiece. But once the home side settled,
a surge set in on the attack like a school of Piranhas, darting and
diving and weaving through a passive Tigers defence. With sparkle
and pizzazz from none other than Charlie Sharples and Jonny May, we
saw the excitement escalate, with both players injecting pace and
skill into the game and crossing the white-wash to a hearty roar from
the Shed. True to recent form, Leicester just couldn't cut the
mustard and it didn't look promising for the visitors as they trailed
30-9, going into half time. The second half proved no different.
Laidlaw added a forth penalty kick to his tally but nothing changed
significantly in Leicester's lacklustre performance. It was a dismal
display by the visitors with a yellow card shown to Niki Goneva and
David Mele's last minute try only managing to dilute the bitter taste
of Leicester's third consecutive defeat. That said, what a solid
foundation for Gloucester, winning 33-16. It can only add to their
momentum and growing confidence going into next weekend’s game
against the Saracens.
Gloucester’s Director of Rugby, David Humphreys said,
“Saracens...it's
a tough ask but having come off the back of a 33-16 win, of course
we're in a good place but Saracens will pose us a very different
challenge. It's something at this stage of the season we can now go
there and play and hopefully produce some of the form that we showed
in the first half.” After
the game, Leicester’s
Director of Rugby Richard Cockerill said, "...There
will be some positives at the end of it, in twelve months time when
we sit here and we're doing well it'll be because of the strength the
lads find now... and sometimes you have to galvanise and you have to
use the negatives that are pushed at you to make you stronger, that's
an experience...” Well
Tigers are not even jockeying for position at the moment but as for
Gloucester –
They
are galvanising.
Harlequins
blew away the cobwebs and London Welsh all in one go on Saturday to
send their fans home ecstatic after a few worrying weeks. They
scored seven tries at the Stoop to win 52-0. The result means the
Welsh Exiles have now conceded 249 points in just five matches and
will have to win against Newcastle next week to be in with a chance
of avoiding relegation. The irrepressible Mike Brown got the Quins'
scoreboard ticking over after just three minutes. Danny Care added
to the tally and with Nick Evans converting both and kicking a
penalty the score stood at 17-0 at half time. Quins even stepped up
a gear after the break, with two tries from Marland Yarde, one each
from Matt Hopper and Karl Dickson and a penalty try to boot for a
high tackle on Dickson by Seb Stegmann. Nick Evans confidently
converted them all. Another demoralising loss for Justin Burnell’s
men, who said after the game, "We
saw a very good Quins side and we were constantly under the cosh in
every area of the game.” Conor O’Shea said, "There's lots
we can improve on. This is a brutal league and the margins are small.
We're going to fight tooth and nail.” Great
to hear because after next week, round 6, we will be a quarter of a
way through the season and I’m beginning to think that the Welsh
need a sixty minute Snickers stop to stem the tide of fatigue that
seems to overwhelm them.