As sides went looking for revenge, or to drive home their dominance, in the second leg of the European double-headers, which players would have impressed their national coaches and which did the opposite?
GOING UP
Mathieu Bastareaud
Toulon, France
Going down last week, coming up this week. Credit to the bowling ball of a centre for bouncing back after a difficult outing at Welford Road with a much better one back on home turf. There was nothing particularly flash about his game, but then there rarely is, and every time he got the ball he was a handful to bring down. His pick-up for the try that fully killed the Tigers off was an absolute joy for a man of his size.
Rhys Priestland
Scarlets, Wales
The much-maligned Welsh fly-half put in probably his best performance of the season so far to guide his Scarlets side to a win over Ulster and, against sizeable odds, see them climb to second in their pool with two games to go. He was afforded plenty of kicking practice by a dominant front five, but a couple of tough misses aside he held his nerve superbly to capitalise on their dominance. Allied with his good game management, this was a welcome return to form. Now, to back it up.
Billy Vunipola
Saracens, England
Saracens’ giant number eight has been speaking recently of his disappointment at losing his England spot, and of perhaps a hint of complacency that had crept into his game. This, then, was a performance full of graft that spoke of a man keen to show that he was willing to work hard to regain his national place. He made good metres every time he carried, offloaded well and picked a good line to crash over the line. He also finished his side’s second top tackler. The right messages have been sent to Lancaster et al.
François Louw
Bath, South Africa
Had he even been away? On this evidence Louw’s extended absence with injury was merely a myth. There was nothing terribly flash about his performance but the unfussy way he went about his work – whether it was the immense work-rate with which he defended or his pilfering of opposition line-out ball – meant that his outing caught the eye. No doubt he’ll be back in the Springbok reckoning in no time.
Anthony Watson
Bath, England
Another Bath player that caught the eye, Watson has built on his impressive performances for England in the autumn with a couple of good European outings. The winger-come-fullback has lightening quick feet that proved too evasive for the Montpellier defence on more than one occasion, and his unselfish pass out of the tackle for Banahan’s second try would have been particularly pleasing to the England management. The only issue now is his position – is he a long-term England winger if Bath keep picking him at fullback?
GOING DOWN
Ryan Grant
Glasgow Warriors, Scotland
The Scottish loosehead prop enjoyed a torrid time at the hands of giant Samoan Census Johnstone at the weekend, as Toulouse’s tighthead had him twisting and retreating at a rate of knots in the scrum. He ended with three penalties given away before being unceremoniously hauled off on 51 minutes.
Owen Williams
Leicester Tigers, Wales
There has been much speculation about Williams and if he will return to Wales in a bid to win a place in the national squad, but if he performs as he did in Toulon on too many more occasions, the point will be moot. To give him some credit he was certainly the most ambitious of the Leicester attackers, but there were far too many inaccuracies when doing the basics for this to be a positive performance – restarts kicked out on the full, tackles missed and ball turned over a worrying number of times.
Jack McGrath
Leinster, Ireland
It’s not been a vintage couple of weeks for the Leinster scrum, shunted this way and that by a Quins outfit that, it’s fair to say, doesn’t have a great reputation in the Premiership. The Irish province may have managed a narrow win but their set-piece was a shambles again, and with Cian Healy to return to fitness it’s not the kind of performance McGrath needed if he’s to remain the number one choice for both club and country.
Who were you impressed with over the weekend and who do you think played poorly?
By Jamie Hosie
Follow Jamie on Twitter: @jhosie43