Aviva Premiership top two rocked

Admittedly, not much can be read into the form of certain teams during the international window, however Saracens and Wasps going down to teams in the bottom half cannot have been expected.

It started on Friday night, with a fired up Gloucester hosting Saracens, who only a week ago suffered a shock loss to Worcester. The cherry and whites produced one of their most promising displays of the campaign to beat the champions 31-23, keeping pressure on the European qualifying places. It is the first time that Saracens have lost two on the bounce for nearly two years. The squad is stretched, but they have enough quality across the board and high enough standards to class this an unacceptable run.

Chief rivals, Wasps failed to cut loose at the top as they were outplayed for much of the opening fifty minutes against Sale. The star of the show was Denny Solomona, who continued his fine start to his Union career with a first-half hat-trick. Sale were streaks ahead at 31-9 before Wasps turned on the style. A couple of tries got them within striking distance, but Sale kicked a vital penalty. Kurtley Beale got a nice try that set up a tense finish, but it wasn’t to be, with Sale riding home 34-28.

Newcastle, Exeter, Tigers, Bath

Newcastle continue to look like the most improved team this season, as they jumped ahead of Northampton in a seven try, 46-31 victory over the East-Midlanders. Surprisingly, they were trailing by nine points at the break, but a swashbuckling second period saw them through. The most eye-catching player on the pitch was Sonatane Takulua, who scored his own hat-trick, whilst kicking nine points.

Another hat-trick hero came in the form of James short. His treble helped Exeter record a bonus-point win at Worcester. Worcester couldn’t quite make it two consecutive remarkable wins, but they gave it their best, leading at the break and getting a try-scoring bonus. Eventually they went down 48-32. The win moves Exeter level with Saracens and further casts their dire start to the season to the deepest realms of the memory.

Whisper it, but Tigers (finally) appear to have their season moving in the right direction. Granted, they were playing Bristol, but to destroy them quite so convincingly at 50-17 was notable. Perhaps Aaron Mauger is beginning to shape the team to his own liking, especially with the recruitment of one George Ford.

Bath also arrested the momentum of a minor dip in form as they registered back-to-back wins after losing three and sliding down. They prevailed in a forgettable game against Harlequins, 22-12.

Munster win again

Now, if it is difficult to look too deeply into the premiership at this time of year, it is nigh on impossible to do so in the Pro12. Almost every team is missing vast quantities of players to their respective nations and left very much looking at the left-overs of their Sunday Lunch, wondering what Monday meal can be concocted.

Nonetheless, Munster continued their winning ways, overcoming Ospreys 25-23. The loss will severely hurt the Welsh region for a number of reasons: They were at home to one of their big rivals and now have a more difficult task to secure a home playoff; it broke a 13 game unbeaten streak; and it all came down to a try being conceded with only minutes remaining.

Ulster were also big winners. They produced a fine display to heap further Pro12 misery on Glasgow. The Northern Irish ran in five tries in a 37-17 victory. The Scots, theoretically one of the best teams in the league, are now some way off the pace.

Leinster, who are yet to be beaten in 2017, beat Edinburgh 39-10. It is looking increasingly hard to foresee anything other than a red v blue final. Other winners were Scarlets (42-7 against Zebre), Cardiff (smashing Treviso 57-20), and Connacht (14-9 over Dragons).

Top 14 roundup

Castres were the only team that managed to win away from home in France. They beat Bordeaux 29-17 and are solidly in the mix for the title, but still sit comfortably behind the top two. La Rochelle and Clermont both picked up wins to continue their epic battle at the top, beating Stade Francais 37-18 and Bayonne 46-27 respectively. Toulon’s stars glided to triumph over Lyon 31-17, whilst fellow Mediterraneans, Montpellier, beat Toulouse 27-18. Finally, Racing beat Brive 33-25 and Pau beat Grenoble 39-22.

Rugby Europe Championship

Georgia made it two wins from two games with an emphatic trouncing of Germany. The visitors, who upset the apple cart in round one, couldn’t get to grips with a dominant Georgia, going down 50-6. Russia and Romania bounced back from surprise defeats in the opening round. The former saw off Belgium 25-28, whilst the latter edged Spain 13-3.

Hero of the week

After such a controversial change of codes, Denny Solomona has been nothing short of an overwhelming success so far for Sale. That hat-trick brings his strike rate to seven in five premiership matches: record breaking.

Villain of the week

I have not seen/heard of any obvious ones this week, so feel free to add your thoughts into the mix. On that basis, I am going to give it to international call-ups affecting the leagues. Now, there was a fantastic comment on this blog last week that mentioned players getting exposure as being a benefit. I also see that it balances the league in these times. However, it unfairly punishes teams that produce high numbers of international quality players. There must be a middle ground…….

Try of the week

So many tries for a time of year that, traditionally, yields so few. As usual, feel free to argue, but I enjoyed JP Pietersen’s score after a Telusa Veainu break.

Discussion points

Can we get genuinely excited about a league convert in Denny Solomona?

Can anyone stop the juggernauts of Munster and Leinster?

Will La Rochelle’s dreamy season come crashing down?

Can anyone stop the thunderstorm that is Georgia?

By Joe Large