Best of the weekend: North star shines bright as Saints smash Ospreys

North star shines bright as Saints smash Ospreys

George North gave a lesson in finishing as Northampton well and truly came out on top in the battle between the leading Premiership and PRO12 sides heading into this weekend. Ospreys, of course, actually had the honour of being the only side in the competition not to have a lost a competitive game yet this season, but the run of form came to an abrupt end as they came face to face with a winger who many of the Welsh region will be joining forces with over the coming month.

Occasionally the one criticism that can be levelled at North is that he can go missing from some of the big games, but he was almost omnipresent at the weekend, scoring a spectacular quartet of tries and saving the finest until the 76th minute, stripping the ball in the tackle behind the halfway line before chipping ahead and winning the race to touch down. It sealed a bonus point win for the English side who had their celebrations dampened somewhat by the news that centre Luther Burrell may be out for some time with a hand injury he picked up at the start of the second half.

The tries were slightly less free-flowing though in some of the other eye-catching fixtures – but the action was certainly no less compelling. A classic Thomond Park battle got the weekend underway, with Munster beating Saracens 14 – 3 in a brutal encounter in difficult conditions. In a tight game with the scores tied at 3-3 after 50 minutes, a sin-binning to Rhys Gill for a dangerous clear out proved to be the decisive factor, with an Ian Keatley penalty and Dave Kilcoyne try taking place over the next 10 minutes to tip the match in favour of the men in red. Up in Northern Ireland there was another colossal battle taking place at a traditional fortress, Ravenhill, as Ulster succumbed 13 – 23 to the reigning champions Toulon. Despite some ferocious physicality from the Ulstermen, tries from Bryan Habana and Delon Armitage had given the French giants control, with the hosts only crossing through Craig Gilroy late on.

Elsewhere, Bath lost a nail-biter of an encounter with Toulouse, with perhaps an ever-growing injury list being partially accountable for a surprisingly porous defence which allowed Clerc, Harinordoquy and Medard to all cross for tries, before Ross Batty’s late score set up a frantic finish. There were also panty-wettingly tense wins for Leinster and Glasgow away in France (a fine achievement no matter who the opposition), with further victories coming for Clermont, Racing, Harlequins and the Scarlets.

Champions Cup Star Man: George North

Falcons down the Dragons as Zebre stun Brive

In a welcome change to last week, there weren’t quite as many full-on pastings on show this week, with the exception of London Welsh who once again shipped 50 points in a home defeat against Bordeaux. The best action, however, was to be found at Rodney Parade, where the Falcons won a thriller against the Dragons. Both teams scored three tries apiece, all of them coming in the first 50 minutes, but Rory Clegg was more accurate when converting the tries and, crucially, the hosts were unable to take advantage of a man advantage after Alex Tait received a yellow card mid-way through the second half.

The most surprising result, however, came in France as Italian minnows Zebre upset Brive in their own backyard with a fine 21 – 26 victory which owed plenty to the continued indiscipline of the hosts and the unnervingly accurate boot Edoardo Padovani. London Irish followed suit with a fine away victory in France of their own, with a 15 – 25 win over Grenoble, picking up a try bonus point in the process thanks to scores from Fegus Mulchrone, Halani Aulika, Alex Lewington and Luke Narraway. Elsewhere, there were wins for Stade Francais, Exeter Chiefs, Cardiff Blues, Gloucester, La Rochelle and Edinburgh in a weekend where one of the most intriguing stats (if you’re sad, like me) was that just one of the four French sides with a home fixture managed to claim a win.

Challenge Cup Star Man: Edoardo Padovani

Try of the Week: Well, there are plenty of contenders again but I keep coming back to George North’s fourth against the Ospreys. It has everything – the power to rip the ball in the tackle, the skill to chip ahead accurately at full pace, and the outright speed to win the foot race to the line. Unstoppable.

Hero of the Week: Well, this will get a bit monotonous, but you can’t score four tries against top quality European opposition in the premier competition and not get noticed. Well played, Mr George North.

Villain of the Week: Rhys Gill was not so much an out-and-out villain but he was incredibly clumsy with the clear-out which earned him a yellow card against Munster, and it cost his side dearly.

By Mike Cooper (@RuckedOver)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images