This weekend was a huge weekend of rugby, 6 Aviva Premiership fixtures and 1 International fixture meant that if you were lucky enough to watch every single one you could have enjoyed 560 minutes of rugby. Personally I watched 3 Aviva Premiership matches, the England International and a full hour of highlights, which I don't think is bad going do you!?! England were triumphant at Twickenham and some of our Aviva Premiership teams also enjoyed superb wins whilst others experienced the hurt and pain of yet another loss.
The rugby started at Sixways on Friday night, in less than ideal conditions. Between Bath’s huge pack and the accuracy of George Ford’s boot Worcester unfortunately again ended up on the wrong side of the score-line. As always from the Warriors the intention was there and in fairness they looked better than they have done to date, however as the rounds tick by it surely becomes harder and harder for them to find that elusive win. For Bath, well it was business as usual and a reassuring win on the road... their back line fire power remains to be seen and I for one certainly hope that it will be a dry day at Adams Park when they take on Wasps in Round 8.
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| Hard fought win from Bath in awful conditions |
The second of the Friday Night Lights fixtures was at the AJ Bell Stadium and instead of the beautiful running rugby that we have seen of late from the Exeter Chiefs they went back to basics and ground out the win the hard way. Gareth Steenson scored all 18 points and Sale gifted Exeter chances for much of the first half finding themselves at one point with 13 men. However Sale didn't give up and they certainly continue to improve on a weekly basis... a special mention must go to Mark Cueto who added to his Aviva Premiership try scoring tally which now is at 82 and counting. However the majority of the praise should be directed Exeter's way... the manner in which they held on is a sign of their maturity, the Exeter Chiefs are now the real deal and they will be a force to be reckoned with this season in the Aviva Premiership.
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Steenson is the heartbeat of the Chiefs. Image @ExeterChiefs
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I said before this weekend if ever there was a time for Harlequins to
get one over the Champions then it was this match in Round 7 of the
2013 Aviva Premiership. Last weekend the Tigers were not the cohesive
unit that we know them to be and question marks were raised regarding
their overall game. Harlequins, well their troubles have been well
documented and copious however since that hearty performance at Clermont
things have been moving in the right direction. The first half
statistics were Quins' dominated 76% possession and 336m carried versus
46 Leicester metres however the score-line read 6-0 to Leicester. Cue Mr
Nick Easter, who certainly had something to say about that and his try
turned around the game. He was sublime throughout and his work rate and
fire power provided Quins with the impetus that they needed to take the
game by the scruff of the neck and win. Cockers was undoubtedly upset
with his men, declaring their defence as ‘embarrassing’ and what is for
sure is that Leicester are missing their star men and the international
season isn’t benefiting them at all.
Gloucester had a lot to prove at Kingsholm as their performance at The Rec last Friday night was less than impressive and I think that we all were expecting a big performance from the Cherry and Whites at home. Wasps, well Wasps were riding on the wave of success after that win against the Tigers and all eyes were on Andy Goode to see if could make it two from two and produce another majestic performance with the boot. In fact the Wasps' star of the game was Christian Wade who certainly gave Stuart Lancaster a little reminder of what he can do with a try in both halves. Andy Goode said post game that no other winger in the Premiership could have scored those two tries that and despite his biased view I’m inclined to agree with him. Gloucester shot themselves in the foot a little bit and they certainly won't be happy to be sitting in 10th position in the table going into Round 8.
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| Christian Wade gave SL something to think about |
After the huge news this week that London Irish had pulled off the signing of the century and would be welcoming James O’Connor to the Madjeski Stadium this weekend it was no wonder that all eyes were on him and boy he did not disappoint. 80m made, 2 clean breaks and 100% tackle success, that certainly isn't a bad run out 4 days after arriving on UK soil. What is perhaps most exciting is that by his own admission he isn't yet at 100%... happy days!!! Regardless the result didn't go London Irish's way as Northampton were dogged defensively and they took their chances when they had them. Worryingly Sam Dickinson went off injured part way through the first half and Luther Burrell had an injury scare after a big fall after going for an aerial ball. Fingers crossed that he will recover quickly because he might be needed for a certain international fixture next weekend at Twickenham. Overall Northampton are looking more and more impressive as the rounds go on and when their England faithful coming back you expect them to continue to fight with Saracens for the top spot.
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| James O'Connor was raring to go |
The final game of the weekend was at Allianz Park where Saracens hosted the Newcastle Falcons. This was certainly a game of two halves… in the first both teams were slightly stuttered and certainly Newcastle would have been the happier of the two going into the break 3-10 down. The second half was a completely different story... Saracens dominated as we all thought that they would do throughout and the tries came thick and fast. It was great to see Charlie Hodgson back from injury and playing as if he had never been away. Newcastle will be disappointed as for 40 minutes they looked as if they could, if the luck went their way, cause the upset of the season. Ultimately Saracens continue to reign supreme in the Aviva Premiership 2 points clear of Northampton and with no signs of slowing down!
On the whole it was another huge weekend of Premiership Rugby and once again we saw some superb pieces of individual and collective brilliance. The Aviva Premiership will be back for Round 8 on 22nd November but don't worry the rugby continues as before then we will have enjoyed 13 LV Cup Fixtures and 2 QBE Internationals. So after a big weekend of rugby it is time to sign off and rest up before it happens all over again next weekend with the LV Cup and England versus Argentina!
