Tigers succumb to Midlands rivals, Worcester hold on to share spoils
Saturday’s Midlands derby saw Wasps claim victory at Welford Road for the first time since 2008. Leicester boss, Richard Cockerill, must be fuming after they were looking at a daunting scoreline to come back from for the second week in a row, but this time failing to do so. The fact they let Wasps leave with the full 5 points and failed to pick up even a losing bonus won’t have helped his mood.
Wasps dominated the opening 50 minutes and were good value for their 27-8 lead. The first try came from arch-finisher Christian Wade after phenomenal work by Jimmy Gopperth as he tackled, forced a turnover, broke down the line and then poked a kick through for the on rushing winger. Lachlan McCaffrey pulled one back for the hosts before the outstanding Guy Thompson and Sam Jones pitched in with a score each, proving that Wasps’ back row remains strong, even without the departed George Smith and injured James Haskell.
Leicester did mount something of a comeback as the Coventry-based team lost their discipline, conceding a yellow card, three penalties and an Ed Slater try to bring the score back to 27-22. Just as they looked to have the upper hand and the momentum, Cockerill’s team lost two men to the bin themselves and, in so doing, their own bonus point as Wasps secured theirs. Gopperth proved his extraordinary diversity when he went over from a driving maul in the last minute to leave the score 34-22, sparking passionate celebrations from Dai Young’s men.
In Devon, a rematch of May’s final was a surprising, in terms of the scoreline, win for visitors Saracens. Exeter can be gutted with their start to the campaign. They have played two and lost two, which is hardly the way you want to bounce back and show the Premiership that you are worthy contenders again. A close opening 40 saw a couple of Henry Slade penalties negated by tries from Alex Lozowski and Sean Maitland. Saracens looked much better after the break again, as they ran riot scoring through Maitland, Jackson Wray and Ben Spencer. Champions they most certainly looked in a 34-13 win.
Carl Hogg and David Humphreys will have been much more pleased with their respective sides’ showings this week, as Worcester and Gloucester played out a tense, exciting 23-all draw. Worcester showed all of the potency they were missing in last week’s loss to Saracens as they ran in three tries through Ben Te’o, Cooper Vuna and Perry Humphreys, mostly thanks to dominant work by the home pack. The visitors, last week throwing away a healthy lead, ate up Worcester’s score after they had Alafoti Faosiliva red carded. Matt Scott, who continued his fine start in a cherry and white shirt, and Henry Purdy got the tries that tied the scores.
Elsewhere, Sale saw off Quins in an aggressive, but ultimately uninspired encounter, Bath continued their resurgence with an impressive 8-try, 58-5 win over Newcastle and Northampton banished memories of last week in beating Bristol 32-10 at Ashton Gate.
Seymour in four try blitz, Blues show promise, Connacht wilt
Four tries is an impressive haul against poor opposition. To do it against Leinster in a close-fought 33-25 encounter to give your side the win is something else. Take a bow Tommy Seymour. If this fine form keeps up, Lions selection is very possible for the Glasgow winger. The hosts will be very pleased to have taken bonus points from both of last seasons finalists in consecutive matches at the start of the season. They must keep this form up and back it up in Europe, but playing like this, who would bet against them?
Cardiff Blues look a dark horse for this season’s Pro12 as they backed up last week’s win with an excellent 24-23 win against Munster at Thomond Park. A brace from Tom James set the tone for a famous victory, in a match where neither side ever let the other out of sight. The Munster fortress may not be quite what it was, but they will never lie down, as they showed in the second 40. After going in 7 points down, they came out firing and went ahead with a Dave Kilcoyne score midway through the half. The Welshmen, however, showed a steely reserve and promise not seen for many years as they took back the lead with a Dan Fish try and saw out the win. After a long time away from the upper reaches of the division, whisper it, but I think we can say that the Blues are back in town.
Last season’s champions, Connacht, look to be on the slide after they lost a second home game in as many weeks. Admittedly, they have played two of the league’s toughest opponents in Glasgow and, this week’s visitors, the Ospreys, however they will need to find something significantly better in their performance if they want to prove that last season wasn’t a beautiful anomaly. Looking at the final 32 points to 11 scoreline, it might surprise you to learn that the hosts were leading as late as the 70th minute. But a defensive capitulation saw them concede late tries to Rhys Webb, grabbing his second, Tyler Adron and Jeff Hassler. The men from Galway must find the headspace they had last year, and sharpish. They could start by having a good, hard look at their defensive structures, after conceding a barrage of tries in the opening two weeks and the most points in the league.
The other Celtic/Italian games saw Treviso put in a spirited performance in a losing cause as they went down to Ulster 22-11, Dragons edged out Zebre 11-6 in a truly dour encounter, and Edinburgh ensured Scarlets’ disappointing start continued as they won 20-9 in front of very few spectators, proving the men from the Scottish capital seriously need to find a new place to be tenants.
How do you solve a problem like New Zealand?
The Rugby Championship returned after a week off, and the Kiwis picked up exactly where they left off, winning, and winning big over the Pumas. The South Americans would have been delighted with their first half, when Santiago Cordero shocked the hosts with an early try, and the boot of Nicolas Sanchez kept ahead at the break, even with Julian Savea and Ben Smith crossing the whitewash. Losing Dan Carter has been like water off a duck’s back to the All Blacks though, as Beauden Barrett sublimely orchestrated a demolition job in the second period, leaving the visitors shell-shocked, having been thumped 57-22. The All Blacks are such a dominant force at the moment, that I am not convinced that even the second ranked team in the world, England, would come close. If anyone has any ideas on how to beat them, please send all the other international coaches a letter explaining how.
In the other match, Australia saw off the Springboks, 23-17, to arrest a worrying losing streak. In a match involving two sides undergoing something of a regeneration, it was unsurprisingly nervy, with the result being all important. Bernard Foley stepped up to the mark for the first time in a while, grabbing himself a try, two conversions and three penalties. Michael Cheika will be sleeping a lot better.
La Rochelle continue fine start
Shock league leaders, La Rochelle, maintained their unbeaten start as they sit pretty on top of a group of much more fashionable French teams. They won their third match of the season as they battered Lyon 43-18. Fijian flyer, Kini Murimurivalu, was the top performer with a hat-trick of tries.
Stade Francais have also had a decent start to the season, after last season’s horror show. They managed to win 29-25 against Castres despite their own fly half trying his best to see them to defeat, earning a red card midway through the second half.
Bordeaux beat Bayonne and Montpellier put the woes of their opening two games behind them as they won 41-13. Racing looked a shadow of last season’s European runners up, losing to Clermont. Toulon finally had something to cheer about when they travelled to and beat Toulouse, whilst Grenoble saw off Brive in Sunday’s other game.
Try of the weekend
Plenty to choose from this week, but for sheer swashbuckling from Jimmy Gopperth, it has to go to Christian Wade’s effort. Here are the highlights from that match:
Hero of the weekend
This may seem like a love letter to the Glasgow winger, but for being a one man try machine, Tommy Seymour deserves the honour.
Villain of the Weekend
Footage has emerged of a fairly blatant eye gouge by Mathieu Ugalde, playing for Grenoble against Brive. Here is the incident, what do you think?
Slower replay of the incident. Batlle is scoring a try here. pic.twitter.com/SI8rKMHREb
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) September 11, 2016
Feel free to share your highlights from the weekend in the comments below, and let us know if you have any feedback on this column.
By Joe Large
Photo by: Patrick Khachfe / Onside Images
As you know by now, we are hilarious, and you should be following us on Facebook and Twitter.
The Grenoble v Brive match in general shoud be a villain after the mass brawl and three red cards but Ugalde should be given the maximum ban for that gouge which I think is a year
here’s the mass brawl video
https://youtu.be/ARvnhxNbHbA
That’s appalling. Both teams should be heavily fined and docked points (although you have to be amused by the sight of the scrum half living up to stereotype and trying to deck someone three foot taller than him)
As for the gauge, after the Franks debacle, the N Hemisphere should show some balls and ban Uglade for life. There can be no excuse or mitigation for his actions, which could have had serious and permanent consequences.
The authorities need to send out the message that if you gouge, you risk your entire career.
Yeah the wild haymaker from the scrum half that completely misses is quite amusing.
LNR need to make some sort of statement after this debacle. 10 points each sounds about right to me but they will probably just give them a financial fine which will be water off a ducks back to the big money French teams.
As far as the gouge is concerned i think 2 year ban is enough Ugalde is only 24 so could come back from this and even Hartley isn’t beyond redemption
I take your point that he may not be beyond redemption.
However, the danger of eye gouging is real, immediate and permanent. Not so long ago, a lad in my area of Kent was left blind in one eye after an eye gouge at a local club match
IMO gouging (not ‘contact with the eye area’) should be met with an immediate life ban. Players should be in no doubt that if they choose to do it, then they are risking their career. Just as they are risking permanent injury to the person they are attacking.
That is possibly the most blatant eye gouge I’ve ever seen!! Personally I think for such a blatant gouge Ugalde should be banned for life. There is absolutely no place for that in this or any sport and he should feel the full force of the law.
Another great result for Sarries and Wasps, and it looks as though these two are the early runners to take the title. I know it’s early and both teams may struggle when internationals come around, but these two teams look more settled and comfortable than anyone else.
Think Wasps should be ok when the internationals come around – it’s only really Launchbury, Hughes and Haskell that will definitely be with England, and out of those three we only have Launchbury starting at the weekend. Probably Daly but if Manu is fit then I’d expect him back from matches. Robson/Mullan/Taylor all the fringe but unlikely to be involved.
Whereas Saracens supply about half of the England starting XV so that will probably hurt them more!
Bath have also started well but I worry about their strength in depth come the international windows
Great start to the season for Wasps. Whilst the likes of Beale and Cips have taken the headlines in terms of signings, it is the strength in depth that seems to have improved most, particularly in the backline.
Would have assumed Eastmond and then Beale would very quickly get the 12 shirt from Gopperth but his is playing brilliantly there, arguably better than he did at 10 last season! Hughes looked great when he came on, looks like he has been given a bit of a kick up the arse which may well help England too! Good showing as well for a first look at the Launchbury/Symons partnership!
yes Gopperth has been very impressive so far and the 2nd distributor model seems to work very well for Wasps. Eastmond will struggle to get into the side at this rate
Think you’re probably right, not sure when Eastmond is expected to be fit but certainly once Beale is back come November time is might be difficult for him to get much game time. Gopperth is certainly a proper option at 12 based on the first two games of the season.
I know it was only Newcastle, but the Bath win was hugely impressive. After last season’s slump I really hope this is the start of a new mentality. Ford seems to be in good form, and the team look confident again. I don’t want to count my chickens before they’ve hatched, but I’m quietly confident we’ll at least be top 6.
Bath look very good – I would expect to see them in the top 6, probably pushing top 4. Still wonder how their front row will be against the very top sides, I think that is their biggest weakness along with their strength in depth. Their team with Ford, JJ, Watson and Faletau (who are all guaranteed to be in the England 23), suddenly looks a lot weaker. Possible they’ll lose Rokodoguni as well if continues his form.
I agree, and think Wasps are probably the contenders who will be hit by international call ups the least. Although, I’m pretty sure that Faletau is Welsh ;) and Watson didn’t play on the weekend. I don’t know if he’s injured or something!
Faletau is indeed unlikely to be called up for England…. I had initially just listed English players and then changed my wording but not properly it seems!
Munster vsCardiff was at Musgrave….
Apologies for the error on that one. If anybody has any feedback on the blog, good or bad, don’t be afraid to let me know.
Thought it was very good Joe. A good mix of detailed analysis for the big games and summary for the rest
Wasps have started this season with 9 more than the corresponding fixtures last year. What is really exciting from a Wasps point of view is the quality in the depth of the squad. Jones Young Thomson all back ups last season all started in the back row and dominated for 50 mins. Gopperth has been playing superbly and for me still possesses the 10 shirt. He’s only 12 now as cover but what a job he’s doing!
Dai has mentioned his desire to have two outstanding players for each position. I think he’s got that, especially with the versatility of Beale and Le Roux still to come in.
One moan from me would be the performance of the ref, Greg Garner, who I thought got muddled over the rules and how to manage the game. Leicester were repeatedly coming in from the side during the second half and he either forgot they weren’t allowed to or didn’t care. Wasps should have been smarter but after being given a final warning it was very tricky to do. Weren’t allowed to compete with or without the ball. Somehow hung on though.
Cracking game, brilliant result, what a time to be a Wasps fan
The gouge certainly has to be top end. Where is the line for authorities to get involved? Does it need to go to the police? You certainly get away with more on the rugby field than you would in any other job, but equally we don’t want to see it turn in to a game where players tone everything down and are afraid of showing a bit of passion. Things happen in the heat of the moment on the pitch. Personally, a year would suffice.
As a Tigers fan, it looks like we are still not set for a tilt. We have recruited well, but it looks like Sarries and Wasps are just stronger across the board. It showed on Saturday. It must be a good time to be a fan of either of those squads indeed!
I prefer the authorities to stay out of it as it is a dangerous precedent to set. Once that door is opened it is impossible to shut
Agreed about that.
After all, if you tackled someone in the street it would be classified as assault. So if you bring the police in, where do you draw the line (and who draws it) between what is legitimate within the game and what they may view as worthy of legal sanction?
I think the Tigers will come good once everyone is in and they have settled a bit more. They always come good near the end of the season. Once Toomua is in and if Manu can stay fit I think you’ll be right up there. Plus you may not suffer too much at international time. Cole, Ben Youngs and Manu (maybe), but you have good replacements for them.
As a Sarries fan now is a great time, but come the international window we know we are going to lose half our first team and will struggle, particularly in the pack!!