Wade bags SIX tries; Leicester triumph in East Midlands derby

In the fight for a playoff position, Leicester Tigers landed a crucial blow by beating Northampton Saints 30-24 at Franklin’s Gardens. Freddie Burns opened the scoring with a penalty, the first three of his eventual twenty-point tally, before Harry Thacker provided the match’s standout moment, blazing in for a fifty-metre solo try. Although taken aback by the Tigers’ lightning start, Saints gathered themselves and scored a try of their own through Teimana Harrison after some crash-ball running from Luther Burrell and Courtney Lawes. Unfortunately, Burrell was on hand minutes later to rob Northampton of all their momentum, throwing a loose pass that Vereniki Goneva gratefully intercepted to score. Stephen Myler’s penalty to close out the half brought the score to 17-13 to Leicester.

Northampton’s hopes received a boost after the break when, after a Freddie Burns penalty, the Pisi brothers combined to score Saints’ second try, Ken feeding George from close-range. However, it was Burns who had the last laugh as he strolled in for the crucial try after Goneva’s break. Northampton’s playoff hopes are all but dashed with this result.

Exeter Chiefs surrendered second place in the table by losing to Gloucester 16-9. A closely-fought first 40 minutes saw precisely zero points scored, the first 0-0 half-time scoreline since 2010, which belied the number of chances that each side had. Battling the Kingsholm conditions as well as each other, the deadlock was finally broken after the interval by a Gareth Steenson penalty, followed promptly by the first try of the game. Gloucester were the team to strike, with debutant winger Ollie Thorley the scorer, and despite Steenson’s continued contributions from the tee, the five-pointer proved instrumental. Greig Laidlaw kicked three penalties to steer the Cherry and Whites to victory.

Christian Wade stole the headlines by scoring six tries – yes, you read that correctly, SIX – in Wasps’ 54-35 defeat of Worcester Warriors, which continued their insatiable form and lifted them to second place and a guaranteed semi-final spot. On Sunday, Newcastle won a scrappy game 13-6 against London Irish, a scoreline that illustrates exactly how important the game was. It felt as though both sides went out to not lose the game, with Newcastle eventually running out winners and all but confirming London Irish’s first ever stint in the Championship.

Saracens also booked their play-off place with a win over Harlequins by 22-12, while Sale Sharks ensured that Bath’s season remains one to forget by beating them 29-17 at the AJ Bell.

Aviva Premiership Star Man: Christian Wade

Leinster and Connacht cement position

There were several crucial victories at the top of the Pro12 with Leinster and Connacht both winning to maintain their deadlock on 68 points. Leinster’s bonus point victory over Edinburgh, 30-23, put them temporarily five points clear at the top of the Pro12. At half-time the Irishmen led 6-3 thanks to two Ian Madigan penalties and thoughts of a bonus point were far from their minds. It was the second half when all the action happened, kicked off by Luke McGrath’s score minutes after the break, following a blazing break from Luke Fitzgerald. Having caught the try-scoring bug, Edinburgh replied quickly through Tom Brown, but it was cancelled out just as quickly, by a Josh van der Flier interception try.

Leinster refused to slow down, adding another try through Fergus McFadden just minutes later. An ill-advised Madigan inside pass gifted Edinburgh their second try, but in this high-octane second half the next try was not far behind, McFadden scoring his second to put Leinster 30-18 ahead. With ten minutes on the clock, replacement Sean Kennedy hit back for Edinburgh and a Sam Hidalgo-Clyne penalty gave the Scots a losing bonus point.

Connacht’s 35-14 victory over Munster may seem more convincing but it was no less hard-fought than Leinster’s ding-dong battle. Munster scored two first-half tries through Simon Zebo and Mike Sherry, and it wasn’t until Anthony Foley’s side lost two players to the sin-bin that Connacht were able to gain some traction. Unsurprisingly, it was Niyi Adeolokun who struck first for Connacht, benefitting from a muscular break from Bundee Aki to speed over on the right hand side. Just moments later, referee Ben Whitehouse awarded Connacht a penalty try at the scrum to give them an unlikely 20-14 half-time lead. With the momentum firmly in their corner, Connacht pulled away in the second half, Adeolokun’s second try and another from Finlay Bealham gave the Galwegians a comfortable and crucial victory.

Glasgow and Ulster also helped their playoff ambitions with wins. Glasgow romped past Scarlets 46-10, scoring seven tries while Ulster gave Zebre a 47-17 pounding. In two largely meaningless fixtures, Ospreys beat Treviso 47-10 and Cardiff Blues got the better of the Dragons by 28-8.

Guinness Pro12 Star Man: Bundee Aki

Clermont pull away from the pack

Clermont capitalised on an easy matchup with Agen to extend their lead atop the Top 14 standings. Les Jaunards strolled to a 38-10 victory scoring six tries, including two from Fijian star-in-the-making Alivereti Raka. His tries were Clermont’s only first-half five-pointers, giving them a 12-3 half-time lead, which was added to after the break by Judicael Cancoriet, Camille Gerondeau, Noa Nakaitaci and David Strettle. Jerome Miquel was Agen’s lone try-scorer as Clermont moved to 7 points clear in the standings.

Montpellier overcame Stade Francais, winning 26-20 and grabbing second place in the league table. A hard-fought first thirty minutes saw the score at 6-6 before Mickael Ivaldi’s try gave Montpellier a five-point lead at half-time. The second period was just as attritional but Montpellier were able to cross twice more, through Akapusi Qera and Benoit Paillaugue, and Jules Plisson was left to keep Stade within range with penalties. A late consolation score for Stade from Jeremy Sinzelle was not enough to keep Montpellier from taking the four points.

Racing 92 stumbled against Toulouse, losing 14-3 and falling to fourth in the table, while Toulon recovered from their European exit by defeating Pau 25-9 thanks to two Delon Armitage tries. Friday saw Castres and Grenoble play out a thrilling clash, with Castres winning 33-28, and on Saturday Brive beat Oyonnax 31-13 and La Rochelle came out on top against Bordeaux Begles 22-15.

Top 14 Star Man: Delon Armitage

Brumbies lengthen Waratahs’ slump

The Waratahs’ difficult season continued with a 26-20 defeat at the hands of the Brumbies. Wallabies winger Joe Tomane scored a hat-trick for the Brumbies bringing his personal tally up to five for the season, with Stephen Moore also dotting down from a rolling maul. Reece Robinson and Israel Folau both crossed on the left hand side for the Waratahs keeping the scoreline close. 10 points from Bernard Foley brought the ‘Tahs to within six points, but despite waves of attack, the Brumbies kept their opposition at bay.

Elton Jantjies steered his Lions to a victory over the Stormers 29-22, kicking 13 points and setting up a try. The fly-half provided a crucial chip and gave the killer pass for Ruan Combrinck’s try on the right hand side with the Lions second score coming from the quick thinking of scrum half Faf de Klerk. If it wasn’t for the excellent place kicking of Jean-Luc du Plessis the Stormers would have been sunk, with the stand-off providing five penalties and a conversion of Siya Kolisi’s try.

Elsewhere in Super Rugby, the Crusaders defeated Los Jaguares 32-15, the Hurricanes overcame the Melbourne Rebels by 38-13 and the Blues recorded a narrow 23-18 victory over the Sharks. There was also a win for the Bulls, 41-22 over the Reds and the less said about the Cheetahs 92-17 against the Sunwolves the better!

Super Rugby Star Man: Joe Tomane

Try of the Week: I think it has to go to the exiled Delon Armitage, finishing off a length of the field score against Pau, one of a pair of tries for the fullback. Honourable mentions to Chris Ashton’s try from Schalk Brits’ break and also Harry Thacker’s breathtaking solo effort – surely amongst the best tries ever from a front row forward.

#TOP14 J21 | L'image du jour
? Le @RCTofficiel s'est relancé en championnat avec une victoire bonifiée à Pau !https://t.co/JSmrxfNxFj

— LNR.FR (@lnr_fr) April 16, 2016

Hero of the Week: Any time you score six tries in a Premiership match, you get Hero of the Week hands down. Congratulations, Christian Wade.

Villain of the Week: One of the more villainous acts has to be Fergus McFadden’s high, no-arms tackle on Damien Hoyland that somehow didn’t draw a card! For this reason, the referee Marius Mitrea also deserves a co-villain title. London Irish’s Greig Tonks also threw a horrendous interception pass to hand Newcastle’s Marcus Watson a gift-wrapped try that may have condemned the Exiles to relegation. Villainous? Maybe not, but definitely foolish.

By Fraser Kay (@fraserkay)

Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images