Round’s 1 – 5 in the Aviva Premiership have provided us with
some blistering rugby, individual and team pieces of brilliance and certainly a
fair few talking points. With one more week to go of European competition this
gives us ample time to reflect on what has been an epic first 5 Rounds of Aviva
Premiership Rugby. So get comfortable because a lot has happened over the past 5 weeks...
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| 5 Rounds In and the table makes for interesting reading |
Looking at the table it is not surprising to see Saracens, Northampton and Leicester flying high, these are three teams with huge strength in depth and ominously for the rest
of the table you sense that they all have more to give, especially Leicester
given their fairly large injury list. Bath are the surprise package in fourth place, whilst we all knew that their young guns would be handful if they played
to their full potential you wondered if that would happen straight away. I suspect that most people had Harlequins name
inked into that fourth place position but they are down in seventh and are not
happy campers. Personally I can’t remember the last time that we saw the former champions occupying
such a low spot and their European loss to Scarlets certainly won't help their dwindling confidence. On the other hand Gloucester have the European competition to thank after finally getting into their stride against Perpignan. Their Premiership campaign to date has been less than convincing from such a promising and talented squad of players. Exeter Chiefs are keeping themselves to themselves, minding
their own business and letting their rugby do all of the talking. They are reaping
the benefits of a couple of big summer signings and their huge work ethic. London
Irish have enjoyed a much better start to this season than last… they too are
simply getting on with things and putting in the work to ensure that the
results come on the pitch. Their London rivals Wasps have certainly been slow out of the blocks and have some catching up to do if they are to fulfill Dai Youngs' high
expectations of his young side. The Falcons mean business and certainly have no
intention of ‘doing a Welsh’ and going straight back down to the Championship,
it is Worcester who already have rather large relegation worries at this
early stage.
Rounds 1 – 5 have certainly provided us with a talking point or two… so
what better way to spend the European break than looking at a few of them;
Saracens… they mean business
We all know that Saracens have
had a huge start to the season, the only team who are unbeaten in the Aviva
Premiership… however what will be most concerning for the rest of the table is
the manner in which they have obtained these wins. The depth in their squad is colossal,
when you can rest Jacques Burger and bring in Will Fraser as his ‘replacement’
you know things are good. What’s more, unlike Leicester Tigers Saracens have not
been riddled with injuries, their players are getting game time together,
cementing partnerships and building, game on game. One match
in particular sums up just how much they mean business and that was their ‘demolition’
of Quins at The Stoop in Round 4. Yes the difference was only 10 points, but it
could have been much more such was their dominance. Harlequins are the former
Champions, and despite their ‘interesting’ start to this season they are
certainly are not short of a star or two and certainly don’t hand out wins on a
plate. Saracens toyed with them in the
first half and then turned the screw in the second. The message that the game sent
out to everyone was clear and simple, “Don’t mess with us because you
will feel our full force and be smashed without a second glance”.
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| Saracens powering their way through Rounds 1-5 |
Sale Sharks… finally fulfilling their potential
At this point last year Sale had
lost all four of their opening round matches and had showed little drive or
promise despite spending significantly in the off season. One year on and
things couldn’t be more different, they have just won their first European
fixture and are sitting pretty at 5th in the Aviva Premiership Table. The rugby, well
it is full of intent and drive… yes it is still slightly scrappy, I’m sure
those of you who watched the first half against Biarritz will know exactly what
I mean, however it is a huge improvement. The question is why are they able to
do this now? Well it is surprising what a strong end of the season, a big
Pre-Season and kicking things off with a win can do for you isn’t it?! Under the
captaincy of Dan Braid things are coming together, Danny Cipriani is playing
like a dream, and a good one at that, and Tommy Taylor, Dave Seymour and
Michael Paterson are causing destruction at the breakdown. With Quins and
Exeter coming up the next few weeks this ‘new look’ Sale will certainly be
tested however I have a sneaking feeling that they will fancy themselves to come
away with at least one win from those two matches!
England Expects... Stuart has some thinking to do
Every year around October time the discussions start, the
names are thrown out there and everyone becomes an expert in England team
selection. This year these discussions have been fueled by injury problems as
well as players who are displaying great club form and for
once I suspect that Stuart might be glad of the extra input! As we all know the big
problem lies in the Centre; Manu Tuliagi and Brad Barritt’s injuries are well
documented and are not going away any time soon, so the question is who should
replace them? Kyle Eastmond and Billy Twelvetrees are already in the EPS Squad
with Jonathan Joseph, Joel Tomkins, Anthony Allen and Luther Burrell in the
Saxons... the question is will Stuart ‘fill the gap’ using just them and if so which one's will he pick!?
Another big question facing
Stuart is whether or not he brings in any ‘ringers’, aka on form club players
who are igniting the Aviva Premiership
but who weren’t in his initial EPS and Saxons Squads. I’m talking about the likes of Northampton’s
Sam Dickinson, Exeter’s Dave Ewers, Gloucester’s Henry Trinder or even Sale’s
Danny Cipriani. From a recent interview with Stuart it is clear that the
England door is open to anyone who knocks hard enough on it, and that Stuart
will trust his instincts and those of his team when forming his team. The shadow over this
refreshingly ‘modern’ view on selection is that fact red tape may stop him from
fast tracking individuals straight into the EPS squad, let’s hope for everyone’s
sake that this has mis-reported and is not the case.
Finally there is the Robshaw vs.
Wood captaincy debate and it is big one to think about. Stuart says that his focus
is ensuring that he has a quality and secure leadership group with the right men to lead the defence, take charge of the game plan and run the
line out and the captain forms part of that. With a home Rugby World Cup
just two years away you suspect that whoever takes the reins now (Robshaw or Wood)
will be in it for the long run... the choice must be right as shouldering the
pressure of a home World Cup is a huge task, just ask Richie McCaw and there is
absolutely no room for error.
So just a few things for Stuart
to ponder on then!?! Let’s hope that there are no BOD/Gatland-esque decisions
shall we, as I don’t think that I could cope with that!!
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| Decision time for Stuart Lancaster |
Worrying for Worcester… Dean Ryan has his hands full
Directors of Rugby can make or
break a club, to be truly successful the DoR must be the positive driving force
behind everything and respected by all. Richard Cockerill, though not popular
with everyone in the rugby world, is probably the epitome of a great Director
of Rugby... or for a less controversial figure just look towards Conor O’Shea
at Harlequins. It is no wonder then that there was such eager anticipation and
excitement when Dean Ryan joined Worcester Warriors in May. Having scraped through
last season by the skin of their teeth, much was spoken about the ‘Dean Ryan
Effect’ and the man himself was extremely positive about the move. 5
Rounds on, with 0 wins and just 2 points to their name the optimism has definitely worn
off and instead has been replaced by frank realism. The statement “It is going
to be a huge, huge task to turn this team around” says it all really. There is
the potential in the ranks but some key fundamentals need to be changed and fast;
discipline and fitness of the pack for a start will help to take the steps towards becoming a
winning side again but as we all can see it is a big uphill battle.
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| There is a long way to go before Twickenham |
Of course these are just a few
things that have been going on over the past 5 weeks, there is so much more that I
could have discussed; that East Midlands Derby for example or the ascendency of some lesser
known individuals in the Aviva Premiership; Tom James, Sam Dickinson and Semesa Rokodoguni to name but a
few. The results from this weekend’s
European Rugby competitions show the sheer strength of the Aviva Premiership – 8
wins, 1 draw and 3 defeats with a losing bonus point certainly isn’t a bad lot
for Round 1 in Europe. After a second weekend of matches against Europe’s best you know
that the Aviva Premiership with reignite in Round 6 with a huge, colossal BANG and I for one am excited already!!
