The
battle of the big guns, a couple of ‘relegation’ battles, a 100 year centenary
match and the small matter of Saracens vs. Gloucester – no wonder the
anticipation and excitement I felt for round 2 was like a child on their
birthday!!!
After
a week of speculation and turmoil regarding the future of the Heineken Cup it
was nice to get back to the good old dependable Aviva Premiership and focus on
some actual rugby. The first stop was the
Battle of the Big Guns at The Stoop on Friday night; Northampton Saints and
Harlequins fighting it out, tooth and nail (perhaps not the best phrase to use after
last weekend’s Dan Cole debacle, but I think you get my drift) to prove that
they will be the ones in the mix come the final rounds of the season. On a rainy night in South West London both
teams equipped themselves much better than you would have expected given the
conditions and the final result was decided by one beautifully finished move
from Saints' James Wilson. For a deeper review on this game have a look at the
earlier posts; 'Let The Battle Commence' and 'The Results'.
Saturday
provided us with 3 matches, Chiefs vs. Wasps, Worcester vs. London Irish and
Bath vs. Tigers – easy ones to predict right!? Wasps, Worcester and Tigers to
win… however the players had other ideas! We all know about the 'Sandy Park
Factor', it is as valuable to the Chiefs as Twickenham is
to England, however the question was would this be enough to beat a young and sprightly
Wasps side? The answer… yes with a little help from the players themselves!?! It may not have been the prettiest of victories
but it was a victory nonetheless. For Exeter Tom James, the Welsh winger, is definitely a man to
watch with two big tries on his debut. For Wasps it will be a match to forget,
as Joe Simpson rightly observed “They had a 20 minute purple patch where they tore
us apart and that is not acceptable.” The losing bonus point will be a
consolation however I'm pretty sure that Dai Youngs will not be a happy man
tonight!
Dean
Ryan’s first home game in charge couldn’t have been tighter at Sixways, and
sadly for him it was Ian Humphreys' late penalty that ensured that Irish came
away with the win and not his side. Another top class performance from Marland Yarde
means that the rugby world continues to talk about his future England prospects
and Worcester will be disappointed that they didn't keep their discipline in
check and finish off the match when they had their chances.
Exactly
100 years ago Leicester Tigers hosted Bath Rugby at Welford Road and enjoyed a
19 to 5 point victory. Pre-match Bath weren't given too much of a chance by most however Mike Ford's men had other ideas. His young squad were extremely impressive; Gavin
Henson started for the first time at his new club (I’m sure that I’ve written those
words before!!?!!) and performed well and George Ford showed no signs of
intimidation against his former club slotting a mere 17 points. Unsurprisingly Mike Ford was elated “To beat any side like
Leicester, that has 9 Premiership Final wins, you never knock that!”… at least
it makes a change from him being asked about picking his son and favouritism!!
For Leicester they have to hope that their injury list doesn't keep on growing - Tom Croft, Manu Tuilagi, Ben Youngs and Toby Flood are the key names on it at the moment. This won't mean anything to Cockers' who I'm pretty sure won't have enjoyed watching this one on BT Sport and will want more from the rest of his squad next weekend.
The
final match of the weekend was at Allianz Park - Saracens kicking off their
home fixtures against a Gloucester side that was desperately seeking redemption
after such a poor Round 1. Nick Wood's 2nd minute stamp on Jacques Burger and
subsequent Red Card didn't really give Gloucester too much of a chance in the
end. The incident itself didn't look to nice on screen and I'm sure will be dealt with accordingly. Gloucester were valiant in their efforts until
half time, working their socks off however 14 vs. 15 is not a way to play a
rugby match. In the second half it did get worse, from a numbers perspective
with a yellow for Sione Kalamafoni leaving just 13 men on the pitch! Saracens looked strong and composed throughout,
James Johnson had his first run out, Chris Ashton continue to be the hardest
working winger off the ball with his support lines and Farrell's boot wasn't
too shabby either. On the whole I wouldn't draw huge conclusions from this one for
either team given the circumstances… but what I will say is that Gloucester really
do need to put away Saints at home next weekend or things won't be too pretty at
Kingsholm!
So
that's Round 2 done and dusted… a mere 245 points this weekend, 3 less than
last weekend, however certainly the same level of drama! Yellow cards, red
cards, tries, TMOs and more… Saracens remain sitting pretty at the top of the
table whilst Gloucester are the surprise package at the bottom.
Heading
back into the working week you will be pleased to know that there are only 138
hours to go until kick off at Sixways between Worcester and Harlequins on Friday night. Breaking
up my week will be a night out to celebrate the launch of Topsy Ojo's Testimonial
Year… so look out for all of the gossip from that one and
then before you know it we will be back into Round 3… happy days!
