1. A cure for the January blues
This is the time of year that typically produces turgid, penalty-dominated affairs that are enjoyed only by the true die-hards. This season, though, sides across the Premiership appear not to have got the memo. This was one of the most exhilarating weekends of rugby yet from the English league, with superb scores almost across the board. Particular highlights included tries from Gloucester’s duo of young scrum-halves, Dan Robson and Calum Braley, a length of the field breakout from Bath finished (just) by Semesa Rokoduguni, Wasps’ superb solo score from precocious talent Alex Lozowski, Nick Easter’s glorious offload for Danny Care’s try and Sinoti Sinoti’s excellence for Newcastle. There was drama aplenty, too, with last-play-of-the-game kicks from James Hook and Shane Geraghty winning the game for Gloucester and London Irish respectively. A weekend of breathtaking rugby to cure even the deepest of January blues.
2. Fillet steak
Butchery is a niche art but at the weekend Billy Twelvetrees showed he is immensely skilled at it. On a serious note, his abject failure to profit from one of the most blatant two on ones you will see this season – with probably the quickest finisher in Premiership Rugby, Jonny May, outside him no less – was a huge black mark against his name when it comes to Six Nations selection this spring. In the end, thankfully for him, Gloucester’s beauty just about outdid Saracens’ brawn, with the tries from Dan Robson and Callum Braley significantly more easy on the eye than Saracens’ three powerful efforts. And they do, of course, owe a great debt of gratitude to the nerves of steel of James Hook, whose last minute penalty sent Kingsholm into rapture.
3. Making his mark
This was the weekend Sam Burgess finally started to look at home in Rugby Union. His was a man of the match performance that included a fine finish through some wobbly tackling, and a staggering 10 defenders beaten. It wasn’t quite the complete performance – he turned the ball over three times and missed a couple of tackles – but his willingness to get involved, which has been evident in every game so far, finally paid dividends as he made serious inroads with his carries. On that note, he carried more ball than anyone else on his team, and only Wasps’ Nathan Hughes outdid him from those on the pitch. There’s still plenty left to learn, but these were the first real signs of just how devastating Burgess will be once he has continued to grow into the game.
4. The cruelest of blows
A World Cup year adds a bit of spice to every game, but it also makes any long term injuries all the more cruel. Inevitably, there will be several poor souls who suffer injuries this season and miss out on the tournament, and Ben Morgan may have suffered the awful fate this weekend of becoming the first man on the list. His leg break saw him requite a metal plate and nine screws be inserted, and he will sit out for at least six months. He could return before the World Cup, but will have very little time to get himself fit before so crucial a tournament. Who replaces him will become a real point of intrigue for the rest of the season – will Lancaster pull an old stager like Nick Easter or Tom Waldrom out of the wilderness, or has that ‘exceptional circumstance’ clause for picking Steffon Armitage just become slightly less exceptional?
5. Porous defence meets excellent offloading
The Tigers’ defence has been shocking this season. They have conceded an average of over two tries per game and at the Stoop they fell to their heaviest ever defeat to Harlequins. They simply couldn’t deal with Quins’ brilliant offloading game, finding themselves caught flat-footed as the home side’s late runners surged over the gainline around the fringes. The fact that they couldn’t identify and stop the offloading game Quins were playing was ultimately their undoing. Cockerill spoke after the game of it being a missed opportunity, which might sound silly given the scoreline, but when you look at the first half, with the number of line-breaks they made, you can understand why. Speaking of porous defences, London Welsh’s was once again breached at will, this time by the resurgent Falcons, who are proving that they are far from just making up the numbers this season. Sadly, the same cannot be said any more for Welsh, who are all but relegated.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
8 replies on “Aviva Premiership Round 13: 5 things we learned”
I wonder if you relegated Welsh now, and promoted Bristol, would Bristol fare any better for the rest of the season? They couldn’t really do any worse, could they?
From a LW supporter’s point of view: I’m sure Bristol would do better. With my speculator’s hat on, if they were to have replaced Welsh before Sunday’s game, I’d have expected them to avoid relegation.
Do you think you can turn it around next season and come straight back up? I wouldn’t be surprised to see Worcester come back up and not Bristol.
Not playing like this! I don’t think this team is as good as the one that got promoted, for all that it should be on paper. Although the silly playoff system means you don’t necessarily get the best team going up, so they could sneak it again.
I have less confidence than I did last time LW were relegated and I expect many of the better players to have release clauses (particularly Britton, Down, McCaffery, Weepu, Barkley and Reynolds), which wasn’t such a problem two years ago. I think LW’s chances of re-promotion would actually be better if Worcester go back up – two seasons of championship rugby might be a bit too much for Bristol’s big new signings who’ll start looking elsewhere.
From what I have seen there seems to be a very good core of players, and a minority of players who looked disinterested, and just there for the paypacket.
Weepu will struggle to find another top flight team to take him on, so although he may have a release clause, he might find himself nowhere better to go.
Agree with you on Bristol. If they don’t get promoted at the end of this season, I think they will lose a few players.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but was this Sam Burgess’s first game that was not televised live? Maybe having (slightly) less pressure helped him relax and play his natural game without the constant fawning of the tv crews?
That’s an interesting point, but all his comments in the press have been about how he is used to playing in high pressure environments. I think it is mainly down to him starting the game, and the fact that Wasps wanted to play some rugby too.
When he has played off the bench, it seems he has tried too hard to get involved in the game, not to mention for his first few appearances, the games turned into scrum-fests as soon as he took to the field!
“…this was the weekend Sam Burgess finally started to look at home”
Finally?? Give the bloke a break – he’s played all of 6 or 7 hours of union and this is only his second 80 mins at first team level.
Just 2 full games in the Premiership and already he is one of the better players on the pitch. Jesus. What is he going to be like once he’s got 10 or 15 games under his belt?