Can you believe it? Round 1 of the Aviva Premiership
is over and what an opening weekend it was… 6 fixtures and 248 points later we
take a breather for 4 days before it all starts again on Friday night. As
opening weekends go it was up there with the best of them; huge hits, nail biting results and a big upset - we really did have it all. Not only was
it our first chance to look at all of the debutantes, it was also the first time we would see the BT Sport team in
match day action... and boy did they deliver.
The honour of opening the 2013/14
season went to the newly promoted Newcastle Falcons at Kingston Park. Making
Kingston Park into a Fortress is one of the objectives of Dean Richards this
season, however entertaining a Bath team with a host of new talented players
was too much of an ask for his side. Anthony Watson looked wise
beyond his 19 years and on Friday night
he displayed exactly why everyone is tipping him to be a future England start, orchestrating
things beautifully from the back. A
fellow debutante George Ford showed why he will have no problem being selected
at 10 on merit, as opposed to 'family favourtism,' from Daddy Ford, as his boot was on fine form and proved to be the
difference between the two sides on a rainy night in the Toon.
The London Double Header always marks the
start of the season in the capital, with the fixtures the same as last year, the
question pre-match was whether the results would be the same? Saracens, boosted
by their pre-season trip to South Africa, quickly took charge of the game with
Farrell not displaying any post Lions weariness and Jamie George showing that he
is ready to take the Aviva Premiership by storm. London Irish demonstrated improvements from last season with Marland Yarde and Topsy Ojo providing the spark in a sometimes lackluster back line. Unfortunately for London Irish nerves and their inability to consistently break the
gain line proved to be their downfall.
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| Yarde looked dangerous despite the Exiles being overpowered by Saracens (Point Photography) |
Franklin's Gardens excitedly
welcomed their new signings and showed why they could be very much in
the mix again this year when it comes to May and the Aviva Premiership Final.
Dylan Hartley started his path to redemption with a very early try however it
was Luther Burrell who stole the show. The centre played a great role in
ensuring that Saints had the bonus pointed wrapped up by half time (31-6) against
a quiet looking Exeter Chiefs. George North eased himself back into rugby and fellow Lion Alex Corbiserio was strong as ever at the scrum, not having any problem with the new scrum laws.
Back to Twickenham and it was as game
time between London Wasps and Harlequins… the 80 point fixture last season, was
slightly lower scoring this year, however the last five minutes alone provided the same amount of
drama. Quins look uncharacteristically sluggish with passes going
astray and nothing quite going according to plan in the first half. Wasps were driven forward by the old Guard Andy Goode and their 'Wing
Men', Varndell and Wade. On the whole they showed the makings of a strong side and with such a young
squad Dai Youngs will be pleased with their first run out - however he might be
less happy with the width of the posts at Twickenham!!?!
Kingsholm provided us with the
shock of the weekend as a dis-organised and poor Gloucester side were put in
their place by Steve Diamond's Sale Sharks. Prior to the fixture Sale were firmly placed as
relegation suspects by most and their performance was a bit of a shock to everyone outside of their own camp! The first half was where all of the damage was inflicted and
Gloucester simply weren't good enough for the full 80 minutes. No wonder Freddie Burns had trouble sleeping on Saturday night!!
The final fixture of the weekend
saw Champions Leicester Tigers kick off their defence at Welford Road against a
Worcester side with a new and exciting Director of Rugby - Dean Ryan. All eyes were on Leicester TIgers newbie Ryan Lamb to see what excitement he would bring to Welford Road... as we all know Ryan can bring the sublime and the ridiculous to a match and if I'm honest today there was more of the former than the latter, which is a good thing! Tigers didn't break into too much of a sweat over the
course of 80 minutes however I'm pretty
sure that Cockers' won't be happy, despite his team securing the bonus point.
On the whole Round 1 of the Aviva
Premiership went according to plan… the Top 3 are the big guns; Leicester Tigers,
Northampton Saints and Saracens… Sale Sharks were the only one's who really
provided us with the unexpected. There were some early stand out performances and as predicted a few teething problems with the new scrum laws.
With Round 1 done and dusted we must look towards Round 2 already... it all starts on Friday night at the Stoop with Quins entertaining Northampton Saints. Elsewhere Sale take on the Falcons, the Chiefs entertain Wasps, Worcester will
look to silence the Chiefs Tribe, Bath take on Tigers and Saracens welcome Gloucester to Allianz Park. Not a Round 2 really is it!!??!
No matter what result your
team achieved this weekend surely you must agree with me that it feels damn
good to have Premiership Rugby back in our lives again?
Look out for my next
post bringing you the weekend in Twitter form with the best Tweets of the weekend and also sharing my own experience being part of the BT Sport Team today covering the Leicester vs. Worcester match live from the BT Sport studio.
