As every Aviva Premiership Round finishes you think that it cannot get any more dramatic but the next round arrives and proves that it absolutely can do!! This weekend we witnessed more drama than a soap opera and more importantly witnessed a historical event... a Worcester Warriors win!! Yes you are reading that right... so let's review all of the action from Round 18;
On Friday Night at The Rec the Southern high flyers Bath hosted the
Northern underdogs the Sale Sharks… the drama unfolded before the starting
whistle was blown as Sale Sharks were stripped of two of their greatest assets
due to warm up injuries; Dan Braid and Mark Cueto. Bath should have been licking
their lips in glee and should have started with a bang however the first half actually
belonged to the visitors even without their star men. Tom Arscott shone at full
back and their lineout king Mike Paterson continued his impressive form. Bath’s
intent was there however their execution wasn’t quite on the money and that
meant that they lacked their usual penetration. At the start of the second half Bath
looked slightly frustrated and The Rec fell ever so slightly quiet, 9 minutes
of scrums did nothing to lift spirits as home fans' cries for a penalty try
were unheard. Sale
were resilient and to use England coach Andy Farrell’s phrase “showed massive balls” to hold on
to their lead. It wasn’t George Ford’s night as he missed a couple of critical
kicks and two drop goal attempts that would have sneaked it at the end. Whilst
Bath look to regroup and find their plan B, Sale continue onwards and upwards…
they are no longer flying under the radar, instead they are real Top 4 contenders
and every single Premiership team should stand up and take notice of Steve Diamond
and his men!
At Adams Park the London Wasps
hosted Saracens and whilst the hosts worked themselves into the ground they were
unable to take anything away from the match. It was always going to be a tough
ask for Dai Young’s men however they really didn’t help themselves by conceding
basic penalties throughout. Saracens simply went through the motions and didn’t do anything too flashy; Charlie Hodgson and Owen Farrell both kept the
scoreboard ticking along and the Wolfpack asserted themselves. Wasps’ tries
came from their two young wingers Jonah Holmes who returned from his loan at
Leeds and Tom Howe who made his Premiership debut, neither looked out of their
depth which will be pleasing for Dai Youngs given his injury situation out wide.
Andy Goode’s has had better days at the kicking tee as he left points begging
however all in all the Wasps Director Of Rugby was happier with his team’s performance. Saracens, well they got the job done; they weren’t perfect and they did switch off at times however a
bonus point win after a week’s jolly that meant that trained only once is a case of job done! As expected from an East Midlands Derby the match at Franklin’s Gardens sizzled from minute one until minute eighty and ended controversially. Leicester looked the more comfortable of the two teams throughout however Northampton never, ever gave up and pressured right until the bitter end. Leicester lost Matthew Tait to injury before the match started but it was the Northampton Saints who suffered during the match with Dylan Hartley and Salesi Ma'afu both picking up injuries in the first half. Leicester threw everything at Saints, including the kitchen sink, and although the Saints defence was monstrous it wasn’t impenetrable. Owen Williams showed his maturity as he took his first East Midlands Derby firmly in his stride however in contrast young Will Hooley had a mixed day, despite defending like a Trojan he missed critical kicks and let 8 points go begging. Standout Saints stand out mentions must go to Kahn Fotuali'I who showed his class throughout and fellow international Ben Foden however the day ultimately belonged to Leicester Tigers who were led from the front by their captain Ed Slater. Slater has already grown into his new role as Captain and continues his impressive unbeaten run wearing that captain's armband.
At Sandy Park
it was a physical encounter between two teams that were desperate to get one
up on the other, it was an open game in the Devonian sunshine that ended in
dramatic fashion when Gareth Steenson missed the kick that would have snatched the match for his side. In the first half Exeter had a lot of the ball and threw it about
nicely with Tom Johnson and Luke Arscott making breaks and playing the type of
rugby that the Sandy Park crowd love to see however Gloucester worked hard in
defence and didn’t let the game slip away from them. The Cherry and Whites’
hard work was rewarded after the break in the form of a Charlie Sharples try
and Rob Cook’s steady boot. Gloucester pressed on but ultimately the two yellow cards to Sila Puafisi and
Sione Kalamafoni gave Exeter the space to cross at the death however as
mentioned Steeno didn’t add the extras. Unsurprisingly
Nigel Davies was the happier of the DoR’s afterwards crediting his side's endeavour
and hailing the win as a ‘pretty significant’ one. Rob Baxter was harsher in his assessment
of his men as their up and down season continues; “I am not going to hide my disappointment because I don't think
that we played particularly well. I said to the guys afterwards that if you
want to win Premiership games you have to go out there and play really well.” In South West London there was yet another local derby and the main story at The Stoop was the return of Harlequins' England Internationals; Danny Care, Mike Brown, Joe Marler and Chris Robshaw all of whom have been sorely missed over the past few months and all needed big games to make up for their absence. Thankfully for Quins fans they did and were integral to their teams' victory along with the extremely experienced Nick Evans who put in a strong shift at fly half. London Irish were yet another team to fall foul to late injuries as they lost Eamonn Sheridan, George Skivington and Kieran Low before the match and in fact they ended up with seven props in the match-day squad.... less than ideal!! Young Tom Fowlie, who started his first ever Aviva Premiership Match, shone at Inside Centre and is certainly one to watch for the future however on the whole Irish didn’t really get going against their local rivals. Whilst Quins gained the win they did miss out on the bonus point and that could be costly in their fight for that final playoff spot, especially with Sale winning away from home at The Rec.
The final match of the weekend was a Kingston Park where the Newcastle Falcons hosted the Worcester Warriors, although I have said it time and time again it really was a case of do for die for Worcester. The first half was a tense affair, both teams were reading each other like a book and defensively just looking to smash the other into next week and at the break the scoreboard read 9-6 to the home side. As Lawrence Dallalgio described it, it was a 'classic basement battle' and you felt that something or someone had to provide a spark in the second half to pull them apart. The difference was a scintillating break from Andy Symons who put in Josh Drauniniu for the match winning score. The try itself was slightly against the run of possession as young Joel Hodgson, who came off the bench, was pulling the strings well for the Falcons however Worcester did what they haven't been able to do all season and held on to secure their first Aviva Premiership victory. It was a colossal win for Dean Ryan and his side... they have been gallant in defeat all season and thoroughly deserve their 4 points.
The Aviva Premiership now takes another short break whilst a few rather large European fixtures are played but rest assured it will be back with an outrageously large Round 19 in the blink of an eye!
