Wasps hold off Tigers
It hasn’t been the easiest of weeks in the East Midlands. A long serving coach gone, dealing with a slip down the league and gossip rife. The question when Tigers travelled the short distance to Coventry to face Wasps was, how will the players react? The answer? Admirably in the face of adversity.
It looked gloomy in the opening half. Leicester had had their share of possession and territory, even so, they couldn’t really threaten the Wasps line, with silly handling errors and countless penalties costing them. Their hosts on the other hand, were fizzing when they had the ball. Christian Wade pounced on a kick that ricocheted to open the scoring, converted by Jimmy Gopperth. Tommy Taylor rumbled over off the back of a maul soon after to extend the advantage. Before you knew it, Wasps were 19 points to the good after a thrilling Dan Robson try. It could have gone to pot for the visitors, but an Owen Williams penalty before the break got them on the board.
Whatever stand-in head coach Mauger said at half-time worked. Tigers were a different beast and their intensity, particularly in the scrum, allowed them to claw their way back into the game. Firstly, through a penalty, then a Peter Betham try, and then another three-pointer left the scores at 19-16. Both sides were firing up. Crucially, the previously rejuvenated Dan Cole gave away a silly penalty that cost him a yellow card and gave Wasps three points. For all their late endeavours, it wasn’t quite to be, and the Coventrians walked away 22-16 winners.
Wasps return to the top of the premiership, having been overtaken by Saracens on Saturday. They showed glimpses of their trademark scintillating rugby, but, on balance, will be incredibly satisfied just to come away with a win. Tigers, on the other hand, can take heart, but know that a big scalp was there for the taking.
Wins galore leaves the middle of the table finely poised
There were a number of big wins for teams in the middle this week, not least for Newcastle Falcons. Their fine season became even better when they beat Bath on Friday night. It left the West Country outfit reeling, having now lost three on the bounce and putting their (previously) seemingly assured top four spot in jeopardy. They came back from 22-10 down, a couple of converted tries in the last ten minutes to steal victory.
Harlequins, a team that have so far been excellent at home, welcomed Sale, a team miserable away from home, to the Stoop. A comfortable victory? Not quite. Harlequins gave away a relatively strong position, allowing a potent Denny Solomona to score his second of the game, leaving the scores at 29-26. Quins just about held on in a tight finish. The Sharks’ bonus point kept Worcester at arms length.
Franklins Gardens played host to two teams that seem to have turned their form around, Saints and Bristol. They were both playing to earn a third consecutive victory, and with the entertainment on show, both could have deserved it. Northampton were the victors, courtesy of four tries and a late kicking show, giving them a 32-26 win. It pulls them to within touching distance of the top four, whilst Bristol move within a point of Worcester due to their own bonus point.
Gloucester put in their most complete performance of the season, smashing Worcester 55-19. They scored seven tries and kept the pressure on the Champions Cup qualification place. Matt Scott scored two tries, continuing his productive season on the try scoring front.
Third played second, when Exeter travelled to the Allianz to play Saracens. Whilst Exeter’s form has been remarkable of late, anything other than a Saracens win would have been deemed surprising. When Richard Barrington was red carded early on for a high tackle, that perception changed. In fact, Saracens did incredibly well to battle to a 13 apiece draw, perhaps even having the better of the game in the second half.
Foley honoured once more
A few short months ago, rugby lost one of its greats. Munster head coach Anthony Foley passed away prior to their European Cup clash against Racing 92, and the clash was postponed and rearranged for this weekend. Since then, Munster have been on fire, and that continued as they put on a wonderful tribute to their hero.
The Parisians (last season’s finalists), may already have been out of the competition, but an embarrassment at home was certainly not expected. Munster raced into a 25-0 half time lead, with Simon Zebo, CJ Stander and Andrew Conway all scoring tries. The second half was a slightly tamer affair, with Racing able to get on the board with a try and Munster able to secure the bonus point with a further one of their own.
Up next for the Irish is a massive clash against Glasgow next weekend, with the winner likely to top the group. It should be excellent, with two sides at the top of their game.
Ospreys go top
Ospreys made the most of Munster’s week off in the Pro12 to cruise to the top of the table. They were 14 points to the good in as many minutes against Connacht, after tries from Dan Baker and Olly Cracknell. The scores remained that way until the break, and they scored a penalty and another two tries afterwards, including a last minute one to get the extra point, to one from their visitors, meaning the Welsh won 29-7.
Scarlets beat Ulster 16-13 to solidify their position in the upper echelons of the league. The Irish started relatively strongly, scoring all their points in the opening period, but were left to rue a weak second half. Ulster, who were flying at the top in the early stages of the season, are now floundering in mid-table.
A bonus point win for Glasgow against Cardiff saw them leapfrog Scarlets into the playoff places. The Blues, another team who have fallen away, never really threatened their hosts as they went down 29-15.
Dragons also beat Teviso in a tussle of the strugglers 26-8, whilst Leinster ran in many tries to hammer Zebre 70-6.
La Rochelle leads Top 14
La Rochelle went top of the French league, in part due to a week off for Clermont, by beating fellow heavyweights Castres 22-8. Toulouse also kept up the pressure on the teams above them by claiming an away victory over Stade Francais 18-15. There were also victories for Brive, beating Grenoble 23-22, and Montepellier, seeing off Bordeaux 31-26.
Hero of the week
James Haskell. So eager to make an impression after so long out, he hammered someone in a tackle, but injured himself in the process. This happened a mere 35 seconds after being on the pitch. Perhaps the best, and the worst, cameo this season.
Villain of the week
I know they were out of the competition, but Racing showed absolutely no pride against Munster. It should have been an emotional game for both sides, but only one team felt it.
Try of the week
The flowing team move from Ospreys that set up Olly Cracknell was a blinder. Good breaks, nice hands, quick recycling and aggressive lines.
By Joe Large
What were your main talking points from the weekend’s Rugby? There were a few inconsistencies in the application of the new high-tackle directives – what did you think overall?
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
Bad pick for hero of the week. Not sure how getting concussed on your first tackle for 8 months counts
I would have gone for Racing for both villians and heroes as despite the dire performance of their team, the fans open their homes to provide accommodation to travelling Muster supporters to reduce the cost of the return trip. Also the players and coaching staff of the Racing team wore red t-shirts with Foley 8 on them as a mark of respect.
I was assuming that Barrington would get villain of the week for his red card challenge on Parling. Or Barritt for getting away with his challenge on Parling!?
Or Tempest for sending off the wrong man and having a generally crap game Dazza? Barrington should get the “victim of circumstances” award and Barritt the “luckiest player of the week award”. Some cracking games this weekend though and great to see players like Hodgson, Wade, Wilson, Taylor and Mercer putting their hands up for attention.
It would seem that the panel have agreed with our findings, with Barritt receiving a three week ban and Barrington being cleared.
May be just as well because at this rate Barrington could be playing for England. Looks like Marler could be out for Six Nations as well. With Mako and Marler out I guess Genge will have to step up!? But who is next in line?
I think Genge, Nathan Catt and Matt Mullan are next in line at prop. Good chance for Genge I reckon…
Really hope Genge gets some game time, although I imagine Mullan would be trusted with the start with him off the bench. With the injuries a pack like this:
Mullan, Hartley, Cole, Launchbury, Kruis, Itoje, Haskell, Hughes
George, Genge, Sinkler, Lawes, Clifford
Thought I read somewhere that Launchbury was injured too
He has a calf injury, but Dai Young has said he might be fit for Toulouse so he won’t be missing the 6 nations.
Would rather see Genge and George starting with Catt and Taylor to come off the bench Jacob, though I know it won’ t happen. Your captain should be the best player in his position and Hartley would rank about fifth on that basis. The interesting thing will be to see if Saints pick him in front of Haywood when he is available again. I certainly wouldn’t, not least because he hasn’t given them anywhere near his best for a long time. I think Cole is also going to get pushed for his place by Sinkler if he gets many more daft cards like the one this weekend. If Jones definitely wants to leave Itoje in the second row would you move Haskell to 6 and Clifford to 7 or bring in someone like Wilson or Armand?
I can see the appeal to doing that Andy, but Mullan is a better prop than Catt by some way in my view, particularly at the set piece. I’m still in the Hartley fan club too, he’s still the best set piece hooker we have, brilliantly abrasive and clearly the leader of the group – he walks in miles ahead of Haywood when fit. I also though Hartley’s form in the AIs was strong so I don’t doubt he stays in the team.
Hartley is definitely under pressure though, but because of how good George’s form is – not anything against him. Sinkler’s form is similar, but it is good to see Cole under serious pressure for probably the first time in his England career.
Do we know that Jones wants to see Itoje in the row? Personally I’d rather have the best possible players on the pitch, and we have a lot of good locks. We won’t lose anything at the breakdown or in the loose with Itoje and Haskell as our flankers, and our line out will improve.
I’m with you on getting the best players on the pitch, and having Itoje in the back row could give him more freedom to run the ball a bit, whilst still tackling everything and causing havoc in the oppositions line-out.
I’m not with you on Hartley though I’m afraid. I think George is a better all round hooker. He carries more ball and has a skill set with ball in hand that Hartley has never shown. Add in the fact that if Kruis is starting he will be calling the line-outs, and their communication is key to getting good ball.
I agree about Itoje in the back row and hope that is the way that Jones goes. I also agree with more of your posts on this site than almost anyone else’s but we will just have to disagree about Hartley. I played hooker for over thirty years and think he is one of the most over-rated players we have had in many years. As a ball carrier he rarely crosses the gain line, and if you wanted a purely scrummaging hooker you would probably still have Webber in the squad. I also hate his persistent tendency to take cheap shots at people on their blind side and would have got rid of him years ago. Your “brilliantly abrasive” is my “untrustworthy thug”. Don’ t rate either Mullan or Catt very highly at present but hopefully one of them will step up to the plate. I thought about two years ago that Mullan was close to stepping up a level but he hasn’t done it yet. It was interesting to hear Flatman describing Catt as “brilliant” on tv this weekend. Perhaps he sees something we don’t..
I realise I’m now in a fading majority regarding Hartley, but I still do rate him. George has been brilliant though, not to mention Taylor, so I’d be surprised to see him starting a year from now. I don’t think Mullan or Catt will be much more than solid, but as a stop gap I think Mullan would do a good job, allowing us to blood Genge off the bench.
I thought Jones’ recent comments regarding two year cycles was really interesting. He was talking about how the first two years was one chapter of the teams evolution, needing different things to the following two years. Felt a lot to me as though he was going to be changing captain, probably before the AI’s.
Too early for him but Val Rapava Ruskin seems to be making a name for himself at loosehead for Worcester
Think he has just signed for Gloucester too? Few good signings from them already with Balmain and Williams wrapped up already – they could be good next year.
Yeah, they seem to be making some clever buying decisions
They are losing Kvesic to the Chiefs though, which will be a big loss.
Also thought that Newcastle might have got hero of the week for their effort against Bath? Great match which Newcastle thoroughly deserved to win.
Anyone else think we could see the Watson brothers playing together for England. I think Marcus Watson has vastly improved since switching back from 7s. At the moment I would like to have a look at him in the England team. A back three of Watson, Nowell and Watson would be pretty good, no?
I haven’t seen enough of Marcus to comment but he is a good sevens player with bags of pace. If his positioning, defence and ability to beat defenders are anything like his brothers he could certainly be an option and at 25 he still has a few years left to make it
He seems to improve with every game for Newcastle, who are themselves a vastly improved team. Bags of pace and a good rugby brain.
Haskell probably shouldn’t be Hero of the Week. His tackle was an example of exactly where not to put your head as a tackler. He ended up going with the wrong should in a Halfpenny esc terrible tackling technique. We’ll see plenty more tacklers getting knocked out against attackers hips with the new rules in place.
I’m surprised Wade isn’t sneaking into England reckoning. Most electric winger in the Premiership, and his defensive positioning has improved a lot this year. Another weakness of his I always saw as his ability under the high ball, and that suddenly seems to have become quite a strength despite his height. Watson, Nowell and May are certainly ahead of him but I think he should be in and around Yarde/Roko at this point.
Agree with all of this Jacob. I think a lot of players will be getting found out for poor tackling technique in the next few weeks. Interesting that there were no”jump ball” sendings off this weekend. Players following up kicks were backing out earlier, and it would not be difficult to formulate a law requiring that if possession is kicked away the team receiving the kick should get first bite at the cherry. Players following up would not be allowed to compete for the ball until it had hit the ground or been caught by a player whose feet had then been allowed to hit the ground. Less spectacular but discourages kicking away possession and is far safer.
I think challenging for the high ball is getting better. There was a spate of reds and yellows from them, and we still see a few, but they seem to be getting better to me. As you say, the defending side will often time their chase to hit the defender as they land – which can actually work out better for them if they’re well supported.
The high tackle issue should see the same over the next 12 months, where defenses will slowly adapt their game to fit in with the new laws. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more head knocks like Haskell’s though – head against hip isn’t much better.
Completely agree that my Hero of the Week was bizarre! Very much a rushed decision to get it finished and published for today. I think I just enjoyed his enthusiasm and let it get te better of me. All the potential heroes/villains you’ve mentioned are certainly more worthy and accurate.
Agree with the Newcastle shout. The way they came back at us deserves a lot of credit. They could easily be top 6 if they keep putting performances in like the Bath/Wasps games!
Wouln’t mind seeing the Watson brothers on the wings for England…But Wade certainly needs his chance before Marcus!
Pleased to see mention of Top 14. But Bayonne had the week off, and Pau & Lyon had the day off. Clermont thrashed Toulon 30-6 on Sunday evening.
Bath signing Sam Underhill is a great signing for both Bath and England, not many better flankers to be an understudy to than Louw at Bath, can only be good for his England prospects.