Midlands derby goes down to the wire
With Leicester needing a win over local rivals Wasps to keep up the pressure on the top four, it was sure to be a fixture to get even those wanting a lazy Sunday out of their grooves in the sofa. It didn’t disappoint. The hosts rocketed out of the blocks and were ahead through Sione Kalamafoni score early on. Tigers had the momentum, but were subdued pretty quickly when Jonny May and Manu Tuilagi went off injured and Nick Malouf’s yellow card gave Wasps an in. They took it with aplomb.
Christian Wade was in devastating form, putting Tigers on the back foot continually and eventually that field position paid dividends when Elliot Daly went over for the first of his brace. The second was added soon after, with Jimmy Gopperth adding a penalty for a healthy half-time lead. The hosts had to regroup and regroup they did. They controlled most of the second period and George Ford slotted three penalties to give his side a much needed 16-15 win. It means Wasps are now in a slightly more frail position in the playoffs, while Tigers will be confident of a storming run in to make them yet again.
Another crucial fixture of the weekend pitted league leaders Exeter against West Country rivals Bath. The hosts have aspirations of the top four themselves, but now look set to miss out after an agonising late Joe Simmonds kick meant they lost out 20-18. Exeter had built a solid lead, before Bath hit back through Matt Banahan and Paul Grant before that kick crushed their hops. With the number of teams vying for that final place, Bath have now taken a back seat.
Capitalising on that we’re Sale, who smashed Worcester 58-25 to leapfrog Bath. They scored eight tries in their rout and, if they can steal an away win or two to maths their home form, may yet have something to say come the end of the season. Newcastle just about clung to their fourth position with a tense 25-22 win over Saints at St James’ Park. Their habit of winning even when the pressure is on could well see them through if they can keep it up at this crucial time.
Gloucester made hard work of London Irish, with both sides getting a try scoring bonus after the Cherry and Whites came from 17-0 down to win 33-29. Their form looks too wobbly to really frighten the teams around them, but they are hanging on in there. Meanwhile, Saracens welcomed back most of their England stars on Saturday, beating London rivals Harlequins 24-11 at a sellout London Stadium.
What happened elsewhere?
Munster overturned Scarlets 19-7 and Leinster were well beaten by Ospreys in the upper echelons of the Pro14. There were also wins for Blues, Treviso, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Cheetahs.
Toulon put an eye-watering 49 points past Clermont, conceding none. In other big Top14 results, Stade Francais were edged by Toulouse at home and Brive squeaked past Agen.
In Super Rugby, the Lions continued to look flimsy in their 49-35 loss to Jaguares, whilst Hurricanes beat Highlanders and Rebels destroyed Sharks.
Try of the weekend
Lewis Ludlow’s effort for Gloucester was a stunner. A nice move that was well finished. We’ll try to find the video later today.
Hero of the weekend
To steer your side to a tight victory despite being outscored three tries to one, I think it has to go to Toby Flood this week.
Villain of the weekend
The fact that there is still no let up for the vast majority of England players. Most of them need a rest, no matter what Maro Itoje says. Even just a game or two and lighter training.
Discussion Points
– Who are best poised to be in the playoffs?
– Which England players returned with gusto?
– Which definitely need a rest?
– How to stop inconsistencies with how high tackles are refereed?
by Joe Large
It was disappointing as a Wasps fan yesterday, the forward substitutions turned the game. When Polata-Nau and Genge came on for Youngs and Bateman, straight away I said they were both upgrades. At the same time, Marty Moore came on for the excellent Cooper-Wooley and Wasps started getting beaten up. Fair play to Leicester, but Wasps need to address their strength in depth in the front 5 particularly.
For an England perspective, positive news is the Genge looked incredible. Willis also made a great impact when he came on. Both need to feature prominently in SA.
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A slightly biased opinion but, I thought Itoje should get try of the week after shaking off the tired look and dominating Quins in an all action display.
Maybe Quins were just the opposition he needed to remind us what he can do!?
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I thought Itoje’s display was fairly eye-catching, and it made me question why he hasn’t been playing like that for England. If he’s not as exhausted as everyone seems to be saying, it must be something to do with Eddie’s preparation of the team or the environment he has created?
Jones wouldn’t be the first manager though to have players looking decidedly average in an England jersey, despite standing out for their clubs.
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I would add Dan Cole into category as well. Played well against Wasps; contributed in the loose whilst dominating the scrum.
I don’t think the excuse of fatigue really washes after those performances which, as you say Hutch, makes one start to wonder what the issue really is. A bit worrying really.
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I thought that in regards to Cole yesterday. (As an England and Wasps, it was really pissing me off!).
His work at the breakdown was as we saw earlier in the season from him in a Leicester shirt, but he hasn’t had games like that in an England shirt in a long while.
Either: 1) Test level is that bit quicker and he can’t get there as often or 2) Our breakdown issues are a strategy of leaving the ball alone in defense.
Could be both, but personally I have a feeling it is 2.
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Definitely, Leicester were getting some really quick ball and, although this is a group effort, Cole was there time and again smashing the ruck.
As a neutral watching, I did really enjoy Leicester winning the scrum against the head in the 2nd half. #power
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I’m not really sure how you can judge international form by Premiership form.
Playing Quins is not the same as playing France. Good as they are, Wasps are not Ireland.
It would hardly be the first time players that look great in the Premiership are not so hot at international level. I’ll just leave the name Alex Goode here
International level is that much harder, that much faster that even players who are slightly off – whether due to fatigue, form or ability – can be left behind, even while looking good playing for their clubs
That said, I do worry that something is off in the England camp
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I do agree that the step from domestic to international is a big one and, as Alex Goode highlighted a couple of times, isn’t one to be made by all good premiership players. I do still think that the criticism levied against the England players for being too tired was a bit unfounded based on the performances of a few this weekend.
This will always be a tough one to gauge though; McCall coming out in defense of Itoje shows that the belief that players are too tired isn’t held by everyone in the professional rugby world. Surely a domestic coach would be the first to demand their player gets a rest? That being said, will players admit to being too tired, for fear of being looked upon negatively by their coaches. I guess sports science can be used to determine if a player is performing at the optimum level, or coasting.
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Could we add a “Moment of the week” here, and this is week by an absolute mile it is Marcus Smith’s dummy which sent Alex Goode about 5 steps in the wrong direction.
Smith looks special. I’d like to see him get game time for England in the summer, and I’m really hoping he isn’t “over-coached”. His natural flair could be gone in a few years under poor, backward thinking coaches.
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He does look special but, I suspect if you stick him in an England shirt too early, especially in such an influential position, it could do him more harm than good.
Natural flair is not something we would normally associate with any England players but he has it in spades! Reminds me a bit of Carlos Spencer in the way he dummies and steps.
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I agree that natural flair isn’t something we normally see come through, but I don’t agree that we should hold him back.
I wouldn’t oust the Ford or Farrell necessarily, but I think he has earned the right to lose his asterisk is squad announcements and begin making his way into the 23. A few 20 minute appearances away in SA surely can’t do too much harm?
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I mean it could do harm if it goes the way of 19 year old Tait vs Wales! South Africa aren’t exactly going to pull their punches just because he’s fresh faced!
That said there are very few soft introductions to test rugby so maybe it is a case of if he’s good enough he’s old enough.
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That does tend to always be the example that is rolled out but I can’t help but feel it’s overlooked that he played for England 35 games for England after that. In fact, he had some great games for England after that. The reality is that he just didn’t kick on during his prime years for whatever reason, not that his debut was brutal!
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I would definitely like to see him as back up to Ford for the SA tour. I would be tempted to give Farrell a rest this summer (among others) and look at some different options for the 12/13 combination.
Smith at 10 with Lozowski and Marchant in the centres would be interesting? Lozowski would also take some of the pressure off Smith.
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“Over Coached”!!! Ab-So-Lute-Ly!!! This is absolutely a condition and one that stymies real & natural talent shining through. I do not think enough young players with flair and talent are “blooded” until they have been coached into conformity. I am constantly conscious of other teams fielding a player (young or fringe) who excels in the game, drawing attention from fans and players alike and thriving off it, stepping into the aura or persona.
Maybe it is a trust issue with coaches that they are not confident the player will execute against the plan and this would support the argument that players are not free to play heads up rugby but, stick to the plan, even when it is not working. It’s a game, a sport, let them play and play with the flair and skill that brought them to your attention!!!! (over coached statement struck a passionate chord here :))
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The race for a play-off spot looks like it will come down to last week which is good for the neutral. Most of the teams vying for a place need to play at least one other play-off team.
Bath unfortunately seem to have blown it. The loss the Exeter was very disappointing, especially after coming so close. Winning against Leicester and Saracens is a big ask before finishing with some “easier” fixtures. They could prove party poopers if they manage to beat Gloucester though.
Newcastle finish with Leicester and Wasps so I think they could lose out.
After the Clash, Leicester seem to have a nice run in and should reach the play-offs after starting the season poorly.
I thought Cole and Ford both looked very good for Leicester, neither seemed to be tired. JJ too played well in defense but still doesn’t seem to have recaptured that spark. I was hoping for Slade to step up against him, but was left feeling disappointed by the number of errors and tge inconsistency…a common feeling I have when watching Slade.
There are too many caveats around the high tackle. I appreciate the circumstances should be taken into consideration – player ducking/slipping – but to be consistent there needs to be objectivity. The only way to do this is to penalise anything to the head, regardless of what has happened in the buildup. This may be harsh, but I cant think of any other ways to be consistent. Rules around seat-belt tackles also need to be reviewed, so many players still do it yet it doesnt always get punished.
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On the high tackle, I agree that complete consistency is impossible with so many caveats. However, that doesn’t mean for me that anything above the shoulder should get penalised. Ignoring, for example, attackers ducking could well lead to some rather cynical attempts to get an advantage. It wouldn’t be hard to an attacking team needs 3 points to win a game to just attack head first into a defender!
Refereeing will always have to be subjective to a certain extent, but I think for the most part that the game is getting better in that regard.
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Yeah it does seem a bit uncompromising. Referee interpretation is key, and I think it is improving, but there are still times where I am left a bit bemused by some decisions. I find this happens sometimes when a bad/reckless tackle has been committed at the start of the game, the referee is sometimes unwilling to send a player off because it might “ruin the match”. IMO this should be irrelevant in making a decision on which card to brandish.
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Talking about players looking different between club/country, I thought Danny Care looked rather ponderous at times during the Quins Sarries match, which I found strange as he’s usually very nippy. That being said, Sarries D was excellent once again and Quin’s forwards’ failure to break the gainline probably made it hard for him, but there were still times when I thought he spent too much time organising the next play which allowed the defence to reset. TBF though that was probably due to quins forwards not really playing heads up rugby – it was interesting to see the extra impetus their subs brought to the game when they came on.
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wow guys…keep these comments up…i am loving them!! total respect and backed up opinions which you don’t often find…thanks :))
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The obvious response to alot of the comments on here regarding England tiredness would be….How tired is tired?
I would argue they WERE tired!
5% off peak performance at international level will herald a ‘problem’ or trough in player performance. That 5% or even a 1% deficit might constitute the difference between a team winning and losing is a modern elite sports reality. Ireland internationals, it has been stated in the broadsheets, play 30% less rugby. Lucky Schmidt!
1. EJs player selection has been slow to develop the wider squad – Particularly so in problem areas e.g 15 shirt, 7 , tight-head prop, and scrum half. This 6ns, with dips in player performance, NEW problem areas (hitherto deemed to be in ‘safe hands’) were added to the ‘Problem Area List’ e.g 13. Yes I do speak of JJ.
2. The EJ selection policy led to a core of players becoming undroppable which at international level is not a good idea. E.g. Robshaw, Brown, JJ, Cole, Hartley even, Itoje, Lawes, Ford and Farrell. Whilst not good for team development this over-dependency will also lead to player tiredness.
3. 16 English Lions players is alot to swallow! The Lions are ANOTHER LAYER in the already congested nternational annual fixture list that other teams and even hemispheres do not possess. It is like playing a full season for club and country and then being told you are not finished because there’s another 2 month surprise tour from hell that means you’re cancelling that holiday to the Algarve! Great!
4. English rugby fixture congestion is a major problem as Damian Hopley who chairs the players not-for-profit union (the RPA) stated as much after the Ireland game. The discussion about central contracting the England players is now being had. About time imho otherwise we will get into the same parlous state the England football team perennially got into just before every WC. In other words a parlous state of knackered physical and mental fatigue that precludes winning anything!
Whether its a 5%, a 55% or 100% fatigue level is not really the point.
It’s still fatigue and enough of a one to affect results and provide a cause for concern!
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Hang on….you don’t rate JJ?
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On a serious note, I agree with what you’ve said above.
Seemingly smaller issues, though manageable in the previous two years, have this year gotten bigger and had a greater impact on England with other factors compounding these even more.
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Jake
Thanks for the general thumbs up but no i don’t rate JJ enough for him to go seemingly forever unchallenged in his position.
Slade and Daley are options (daley in his more natural position i would argue) and even Tuilagi if he makes a successful return.
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That was more a nod to previous debates we’ve had regarding JJ.
I would agree though that, atm, he does look a bit off. Whether it be a result of slower/poorer ball to the backline, tactics, or just a dip in form, I hope we can see him rediscover his edge from the previous 2 years.
Daley has been the England x-factor the past couple of games and it would make sense having him midfield where he can be more involved.
Slade…I am still not convinced. Against Bath last week, though Exeter won, his performance was error strewn and he was kept quiet by JJ.
Tuilagi has been looking good for Leicester but went off injured v Wasps. Lets hope its nothing too serious. Tuilagi with JJ/Daley would be a nice combo.
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Settle for that Jake! A good combo!
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