Rounds 6 and 7 of the Aviva Premiership are what
you would call ‘International Season’; the time of the year when the stars of
the ‘big’ teams head off to do their bit for their countries and some of the
‘smaller’ ones lick their lips in glee. They say that there is no place like
home and after the bright lights of Europe it was great to get back to some
domestic action and what better way to start it than with one of the oldest
derby fixtures. Europe provided some of our Aviva Premiership teams with
renewed confidence and energy after enjoying some huge wins whilst for others
it simply added to their heartache and problems. It was always going to be a
big, big round for all concerned and it certainly didn’t disappoint... so
without further introduction let's have a look at what happened in Round 6 of
the Aviva Premiership;
Friday Night Lights were reserved for The Rec and
Bath versus Gloucester, these two giants have been playing each other since
1882 and there is absolutely no love lost between them at all. Whilst Bath have
enjoyed a strong start to the season, Gloucester still haven’t recovered from
that shocking home loss to Newcastle Falcons in Round 1. However a Derby Day
and especially one of the West Country variety often completely ignores the
‘form book’ and provides a thriller regardless of table positions. With the
likes of Anthony Watson, Semesa Rokoduguni, James Simpson-Daniel and Jonny May
on the same pitch, we all fancied a dry night in which they could let loose and
play some high tempo rugby… instead we were treated to torrential rain and a
West Country mud bath. The 15-13 score line suggests that it was a tight
game, in fact Bath had the measure of Gloucester throughout, despite an iffy
night with the boot for George Ford. Released from England duty, Freddie Burns
scored all 13 of Gloucester’s points and was the shining light in an average
team that gave away 21 penalties in total. Clearly Nigel Davies’ interesting
selection policy for their final Heineken Cup fixture did not pay off and he
will be looking for an improvement, certainly up front, against Wasps next
weekend. Bath will be boosted by the win and the way in which they dominated,
Garvey, Louw and Fearns were outstanding and I doubt that a trip to
Sixways next weekend will faze them too much!!
Northampton Saints versus Saracens, the big game of
the weekend and with the names on the starting team sheets you always knew that
it would be a thunderous affair at Franklin’s Gardens. I think that it is fair
to say that not even the most optimistic of Northampton Saints’ fans, would
have predicted a 6 try bonus point win!!! Saracens were un-characteristically
sloppy in defence, their set piece didn’t fire on all four cylinders and their
wolfpack mentality was sadly missing. Individually and collectively Northampton
were outstanding; Fotuali’i showed his full repertoire, Manoa was huge, Luther
Burrell waved at Stuart Lancaster and Ben Foden almost certainly played his way
onto the bench for next weekend’s England game. All is not lost for Saracens;
you only have to look at the way in which their players reacted after the game
to know that they will be back with a huge response next weekend. They are a
proud team who hate to lose by 1 point let alone 21 and you can almost put your
mortgage on the fact that they will steamroller Newcastle Falcons next weekend
at Allianz Park.
 |
| Samu Manoa was simply outstanding (Image @SaintsRugby) |
Historically at this point in the season Harlequins
would be flying high in the upper echelons of the Premiership table… however
with four losses on the bounce and one of the longest injury lists in the Aviva
Premiership things were not looking too rosy for Conor O’Shea’s team going into
Saturday’s fixture. On the other hand the Sale Sharks have enjoyed a solid
start to their 2013/14 season, their key men are now sparkling and under the
leadership of Dan Braid things are slotting into place nicely. Taking all of
these factors into account you had to wonder whether another upset was on the
cards at The Stoop!? Sadly for Sale fans it was not to be as Harlequins produced
a solid performance and restored some pride recording a 24-3 win. It was not a
beautiful game of rugby to watch and Sale could have made the final score much
more respectable score had they been more clinical and finished off their
opportunities. The oldest man on the pitch and Harlequins captain Nick Easter
led by example and rallied his troops to victory with their young guns, Jack
Clifford and Luke Wallace putting in huge performances on the day. Quins will
head to Welford Road with a little more spring in their step however I suspect
that they will be in for a difficult time and as for Sale, well they will be
hosting the Aviva Premiership team of the moment the Exeter Chiefs on Friday
night… good luck with that one!
 |
| Wallace is a huge talent at Quins |
So, moving straight onto the Chiefs, they showed
absolutely no signs of a ‘European hangover’ despite that extremely
disappointing loss last weekend to Glasgow Warriors. We always knew that they
were going to be far, far too much for the struggling Worcester Warriors and
the term ‘cricket score’ sprung to mind if the Chiefs played to their full
potential. The final result was 40-6, and I’ll let you decide whether you think
that is a cricket score or not!!? To be fair to the Warriors their heads didn’t
drop until the 70 minute mark which isn’t bad considering that they were
outplayed in most, if not all areas of the pitch. At the heart and soul of the
‘Tomahawk massive’ was their captain Dean Mumm who scored this 5th try in 8
games, not a bad radio for a lock!! Tom Johnson and Dave Ewers were two men who
had points to prove to Stuart Lancaster and both did so in emphatic style and
Steenson continued to slot kicks for fun, retaining his excellent goal kicking
stats. Worcester still haven’t recorded a win in the Aviva Premiership and
sadly for Dean Ryan and the players things are looking bleaker as the weeks go
on. There is no doubt that the squad are putting their hearts and souls into
their matches, however as an outsider looking in, it is difficult to see where
the big turnaround is going to come from and the word ‘relegation’ is certainly
one that you would associate with the Warriors at this stage.
 |
| Dean Mumm's Try Celebrations (Image @ppauk) |
Sadly for Richard Cockerill his team did not
provide him with the ‘welcome back win’ that he would have liked… the fact that
it was a loss to Wasps, one of their oldest and fiercest rivals, will make it
hurt even more! Leicester were surprisingly quiet, despite losing 7 players to
England duty and having an injury list that rivals Harlequins, you always
assume that the Tigers will pull it out of the bag and this time they couldn't.
London Wasps, like Bath, were extremely strong up front for the full 80 minutes
and never really looked like losing the game. The man of the match Andy Goode
had a superb game in extremely difficult conditions, slotting drop goals and
penalties galore and having a great time doing it! On an individual basis for
Leicester I’m sure that Owen Williams would have liked his first start to have
gone a little better and David Mélé seemed to be a tad frustrated at times
during the match! It will be a big training week for both teams as Leicester
head back to Welford Road to host Harlequins and Wasps get ready to feel the
force of The Shed at Kingsholm next weekend.
 |
| Andy Goode lead Wasps to victory |
The last match of the weekend was up at Kingston
Park for Newcastle Falcons against London Irish. Both teams will have fancied this as a fixture that they wanted to
win and true to form it was a tense and tight game throughout. As ever at
Kingston Park the weather was not exactly tropical and with the ‘winter
hurricane’ on its way it was no surprise that things were a little challenging for kickers Rory Clegg, Ian Humphreys and Shane Geraghty. On paper and given their European form you
suspected that London Irish would sneak an away win however sometimes the elements and luck goes against you. Irish's last minute penalty slipped under the cross bar and that caused euphoria for Newcastle and a very long and unhappy trip back to
London for Irish. However with the potential arrival of James O’Connor
this week I’m sure that the squad will pick themselves back up again in time to take
on Northampton Saints on Sunday at the Madjeski Stadium!
After another scintillating weekend of Aviva
Premiership Rugby it is time to rest and recharge the batteries before next
weekend because trust me it is going to be a big one! There are 6 Aviva
Premiership Round 7 clashes and a certain QBE International fixture at
Twickenham to enjoy, so I suggest that you rest your voices as much as possible
and clear your diaries because we have another huge weekend of rugby ahead of
us! How very exciting!!!
