Round 13… boy did that deliver!
If you’re going to sign off from Premiership Rugby for a month then you may as well do it in style! From Friday night’s head-turner at Kingston Park to Sunday’s game of two halves at the Ricoh Arena we saw it all. Now it’s time to dive head first into two rounds of Europe before the Anglo-Welsh Cup arrives again and the RBS 6 Nations starts. From an Out On The Full point of view I’ll follow the Premiership team’s through Europe and then when it comes to the Six Nations switch the focus directly onto England. We’ve a busy period ahead so look out for a mixture of written content, audio bulletins and the return of the VLOG!
Back to Round 13 and I’ll start at Kingston Park where Dean Richards finished the evening with a massive grin on his face (yes it was captured on TV too!) and Newcastle prevailed against Bath. Once again the visitors were unable to put away a game that they had firmly in their own hands (12 points ahead going into the final 10 minutes) but the credit has to go to Falcons for pushing Bath off their stride. Dean Richards’ men were focused and precise in what they needed to do during the latter stages of the match and it was orchestrated by the most mature and accomplished performance I’ve seen from Joel Hodgson ever. Jon Welsh’s epic chip and collect was a personal highlight alongside the ridiculously brilliantly finishing of Semesa Rokduguni but as a whole the greatest praise must be saved of Newcastle as a collective. They’re building with more to come while Bath need to re-find their clinical winning edge. Full Time: Newcastle Falcons 24 - 22 Bath
At Allianz Park we witnessed Saracens at their powerful and resilient best as they battled with 14 men to secured a hard-fought, and well earned, draw against Exeter. Of course the talking point was the incident that resulted in Richard Barrington receiving a red card. I have not qualms with that decision, I believe that was correct, but I was surprised that Brad Barritt wasn’t penalised too at the time. Geoff Parling’s health remains at the forefront of all of our minds and we hope that he will be fully fit following his return to play progression. On the whole we saw the benefit of Saracens’ collective understanding and power game while Exeter didn’t take charge as they’d like. Jack Nowell astounded us all with his one handed take for his try and in my mind has to start for England against France on 4th Feb however he and his side would have wanted more than just a draw. Full Time: Saracens 13-13 Exeter 
At Franklin’s Gardens Bristol and Northampton were embroiled in an enjoyable match that delivered 58 points and six tries in total. After such a challenging period of time for both sides it’s great to see the Saints starting to get their confidence back and the building output Bristol. Once again Jason Woodward as the visitors’ catalyst and he’s been the most important signing of all this season - his 21 points and his contribution across the park hugely impressed me. It was level going into the final quarter but Saints did the business and pressed on, Tom Wood continues to led them with distinction and I firmly believe that his leadership is a vital contributor to their shift back on track. Full Time: Northampton Saints 32-26 Bristol Rugby 
At the Twickenham Stoop Harlequins made it 10 wins from 10 home matches in the competition however their poor away form means that they aren’t as high up the table as they'd like to be. Speaking of table positions Sale Sharks’ tenth place isn’t far from ideal however their losing bonus point was vital. Once again Denny Solomona showed that finishing skills have seamlessly transferred across the codes and his hit rate of four tries in four appearances is superb. On the other side it was Tim Swiel that really turned heads with 24 points in total and an accomplished performance that will have him knocking on the door to start against Edinburgh in this weekend’s Challenge Cup match. The match itself delivered plenty to feast the eyes on and finally a word for Adam Jones who didn’t even think that he was going to be playing (he was back in Wales earlier in the day) and ended up on the field at loose head. Full Time: Harlequins 29-26 Sale Sharks
The result at Kingsholm was one of the shocks of the weekend for me and it was such for two reasons. The first was a little surprise at Gloucester’s performance given their two narrow defeats of late and the second was the capitulation of Worcester after such a productive Round 12. The Cherry and Whites gave us all a showcase of what they can deliver from an all signing, all dancing performance for 80 minutes while their visitors struggled. Carl Hogg has said that there were some ‘serious words’ following the game and you’d expect so because their performance levels on the day weren’t good enough. Full Time: Gloucester Rugby 55-19 Worcester Warriors
The final game of the weekend was an absolute belter at the Ricoh Arena and it was a classic game of two halves. That phrase is such a cliche but in this case the shoe fits and it resulted in the most enthralling game of the weekend. Wasps’ opening half was a dream, they were at their devastating and clinical best while Leicester looked like a rabbit in the headlights. After all of the emotions Leicester had been going through during the week it looked as if they were going to be pummelled and taught a lesson. Whatever was said in their dressing room worked because in the second forty they wrestled back control of the gain line and physically dominated. As a result Owen Williams’ boot got them right back in it and they had opportunities to take the game. There were dazzling individual performances from Ellis Genge and Ed Slater alongside Guy Thompson delivering for the hosts. Full Time: Wasps 22-16 Leicester Tigers 