Round
13 was full of surprises - another incredible, exciting and
passionate weekend of Aviva Premiership action.
Extraordinarily,
this unpredictable and windy weekend saw Bath Rugby being the only
side - in the top 6 of the Aviva Premiership - win.
And
talking of Bath, well Sam Burgess was quite rightly named MOTM, after
what looked like a comfortable performance from the Yorkshire man in
the centre accompanied by him ‘racking up’ his first Premiership
try.
Dave
Attwood made his 100th
appearance for the club and with Bath and Wasps running in nine tries
in total at The Rec on Saturday afternoon, I was out of gas just
writing on this awesome game. Wasps did make a comeback very late on
but their two tries in two minutes just wasn't enough as Bath
scrubbed up with a 39-26 win and Wasps missed the boat.
It
was a different story both at Kingsholm and the Madjeski Stadium,
however, with both home sides trailing until the dying moments of
their games and in both cases, not missing the boat at all but
relishing and rejoicing in narrow but oh so glorious victories!
Friday night saw the Saracens taking on the Cherry and Whites in a
nail-biting match with James Hook having nerves of steel, kicking the
50m decider in the 82 nd
minute to steal a 24-23 victory from the London side. The ball
seemed to take an age to reach safety and Kingsholm just erupted.
Similarly, on Sunday, London Irish clinched a dramatic 28-26 win over
5 th
place Exeter Chiefs with a last-minute kick from Captain Shane
Geraghty.
Does
anyone have any nails left?
So
now let's move onto the pummelling that both Quins and Sale dished
out this weekend. I don't use this term lightly either. With Sale
showing resilience after losing to Wasps last week, it was a
testament to their strength and defiance within the team to pull off
such a solid 20-7 winning performance against the Premiership
Champions, Northampton Saints. Not much room left for errors now
Saints!
As
for the Harlequins, well this is exactly what the doctor ordered to
provide a confidence boost. The Stoop can be rocking at times and
I'm in no doubt the atmosphere aided the boys to dig deep, scoring
four tries to take a 32-12 victory against the Tigers who pushed Bath
to the limit last weekend! This result pushes them up to 7th
spot in the league. Coming from behind like last season?
And
as for Newcastle Falcons, well are they the most improved side this
season? I was never in doubt that they'd demolish the London Welsh
pack and they did exactly that. They oozed confidence and
assertiveness across the park and put in a mammoth shift on Sunday,
racking up six tries and the bonus point 38-7 win against a London
Welsh that need to tighten up and polish in all areas to see their
first win. Such a shame for the exiles.
As
we break for Europe and prior to the Six Nations, it's important we
look at where clubs are sitting in the Premiership table.
It'll
begin to get a little shaky as squad rotation takes priority in the
coming weeks and I think the teams that won't suffer so greatly are
London Irish and Exeter Chiefs who seem to have great fitness and
stability in camp.
And
who knows, can London Welsh capitalise at this time?
Let's
see how it pans out! But if I was the DoR or Head Coach of the top
four sides, I'd be pretty happy with where Northampton, Bath,
Saracens and Wasps are sitting right now.
But
has anyone got a crystal ball?