1. Competition for places
Stuart Lancaster must be scratching his head. In several positions, the opening two rounds of the Premiership have seen some real strength in depth emerge. Will Fraser was superb at the weekend, as was James Haskell, while incumbent openside (not to mention captain) Chris Robshaw was less so. Owen Farrell has only played cameos from the bench so far while George Ford, Freddie Burns and Danny Cipriani make up ground on him with some assured showings. Sam Hill has been immense for Exeter, as has Luther Burrell for Northampton, and Billy Twelvetrees showed immense grit to lead Gloucester back from the brink to victory at the weekend. Competition for places is usually a good thing, but with only a year to go until the World Cup, Lancaster needs to be nailing down his combinations ASAP. Autumn selection will be very, very interesting.
2. Back to basics
You cannot win games if you cannot defend. London Welsh have shipped 105 points in two games, and against Bath at the weekend they fell off 24 tackles. While their attacking endeavour was admirable, and they scored some very good tries to come away with a point, they are not going to be able to simply outscore teams. They must shore up their defence – it’s what Newcastle based their survival on last year. Speaking of the Falcons, their inaccuracy from the tee cost them against London Irish. They outscored their opponents three tries to two, but Phil Godman and Juan Pablo Socino between them conspired to miss six of seven kicks at goal. It was probably just an off day, but it makes such a difference when your kicker is hitting everything through the sticks.
3. Kudos to Glos
After their obliteration at the hands of Northampton last week, Gloucester found themselves 17-3 down at one stage in the first half of their game against Sale. At that point, most people were thinking “here we go again”, but apparently not the Gloucester players. There’s no way morale wouldn’t have taken a hit after the result the week before, so to rally from 14 points down and come away with a win was a real show of character from the Cherry and Whites, and will bring great relief to the coaching staff. Perhaps the most encouraging sight was the pack shoving the Sale eight backwards for a penalty try in the 72nd minute – not something the fans have become accustomed to seeing too often. There are still issues to iron out, for sure, but it was a hugely gritty comeback win and a step in the right direction for the new regime.
4. Worrying times for Harlequins
Saracens winning at The Stoop wasn’t surprising in itself – they have dominated recent history between the two sides – but the manner of their victory was deeply troubling for Harlequins. To be nilled is never a nice feeling; to have it done to you at home is worse; to have it done to you when you are a side that has title aspirations is pretty much as low as it gets. Of course, they won’t be pressing the panic button yet – it is far too early for that, and the O’Shea regime has worked brilliantly for the past few years. But there’s no doubt that they look off the pace – the front five lacks grunt (Sinckler and Matthews are great prospects, but not ready to be the backbone of the pack), while Nick Evans needs to find some form, and fast. Marland Yarde’s ambling manner as he failed to chase the ball back for Chris Ashton’s try was somewhat worrying, too. They will likely come good – they have the experience to do so – but at the moment they look some way off a top four side.
5. Finally the bride
Wasps have been perennial bridesmaids in recent seasons – always threatening the top teams but never quite making the step up to consistently match them. Could this be the season they finally do it? They’ve played two of the sides likely to finish in the top four already and have come away with five points. Their win over champions Northampton was hugely impressive, and bucks a frustrating trend in which they’ve come so close to winning the big games, only to fall at the final hurdle. A case in point – in this game last season, they lost to last minute scrum penalty. This time, the forwards handled the Saints pack, who had destroyed Gloucester the week before, with aplomb. They have a backline riddled with flair and pace, and genuine competition for places – Ruaridh Jackson’s nerveless cameo on Sunday proved he will be pushing Andy Goode for the starting berth sooner rather than later. It’s still very early on but, but the signs are promising.
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
7 replies on “Aviva Premiership Round 2: 5 things we learned”
What an excellent performance by Wasps.
Positives to take out of the weekend for all the teams except Quins. Glad to see Gloucester coming good. A few players there need a good season for England.
Was interesting to see Laidlaw vs Cusiter. Why oh why have Scotland persisted with Laidlaw in the last couple of years. Cusiter looks a class above in terms of tempo and attacking threat.
Glad to see someone note that Yarde was in slow-motion as he chased back the grubber that led to Ashton’s try. The commentators at the time didn’t pick up on it but it was criminal that Ashton went by him so easily. People have seized on Ashton, Wade and May’s defensive deficiencies at times but Yarde is another with work to do in that area.
Ashton vs Yarde was always going to be a talking point. Ashton has had one hell of alot of stick the past few seasons. He proves time and time again why he is one of the best wingers in the country when he plays for Sarries week in, week out. His defence still isnt where it needs to be but if you compare it to when he moved from league it has come on leaps and bounds. He is certainly still in the England squad Yarde was very good in the summer, Ashton is good now but his form for England has been squiffy (but he has alot more freedom to move around with sarries which is when he scores with oppurtunistic tries). It’s only the second round but Yarde hasnt really excelled for me, especially when weighed against Wade and Strettle in the first round. The sixnations combo of May and Nowel is just a no for me. Nowel has promise in a year or two, May I just cant see it. As for the midfield combo its so simple its cringeworthy – Manu and Barrit with Burrell on the bench and Burgess if he lives up to the hype (hope he does) in contention. Barrit stops tries end of. I really dont get why he was dropped.
Not convinced of your love for Barritt. He is a 6 masquerading as a 12. Tackle all you want, that is not enough to be an international 12 – he must offer more.
I agree with Jacob on this. Barritt will always do a job at 12 and will never let you down in defence, but as he says – that really isn’t enough at international level.
I’d far rather see Burrell there or even 36, despite my contention that his performances to date in an England shirt have been mostly mediocre.
As for the wingers, I am waiting to judge Ashton on a game where he is actually tested in defence. Yarde I am giving a little leeway to as he is in a new set-up, but he really needs to start performing soon
No thank you to Barritt. Keep him in the EPS, good squad man to send out on the playoff game, but he’s not what we need. 36 has been fantastic in defence, and a tireless worker, he often tries too much in attack, but at least there is potential there, unlike Barritt.
Burrell is either in the 13 shirt or not in the 23 for me. I know he’s a 12, but when he has time to gel at 13 (such as the 6 nations) he performs very well, he’s also not good enough to lead our defence from 12, which is the role both 36/Barritt perform.
Ashton should go the same way as Strettle. Works well on the end of a massively dominant pack, and has the pace to finish chances wonderfully. Unfortunately England cannot expect to smash people aside like Sarries do, and that severely limits their usefulness. Strettle blew his last chance in Argentina, Ashton has managed to blow so many last chances, and yet keeps coming back. Yarde and Wade for now please.