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Aviva Premiership Week 14 wrap

Roar Guru
16th February, 2017
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After a break for European competition and the start of the Six Nations, the Aviva Premiership returned this week.

With teams shorn of their Home Nation International players, this was a chance for squad players to get a run and potentially an upset or two which certainly happened. Here is a review of the Week 14 action:

Bath 32-30 Northampton
An 80th-minute Rhys Priestland penalty ensured Bath ended a run of three straight league defeats. They also claimed the try scoring bonus point in the process.

This ding-dong battle saw the lead change hands four times with Northampton thinking they had done enough to continue Baths wretched form coming back from 22-9 down to lead 30-29 in the final minute.

Paul Grant, Semesa Rokodugani, a penalty try and Chris Cook all crossed the whitewash for Bath while Ben Foden, Api Ratuniyarawa and Jamie Gibson replied for Northampton. Three of Bath’s tries came in the first half whereas Northampton didn’t really get going until Foden crossed in the 59th minute.

After that the doubts crept into the home team after their recent poor form and Northampton went ahead when Myler converted their second try. Credit to Bath though, they came back within a minute to score their bonus point try and even though Northampton snatched the lead back, Priestland had the final say to get their playoff challenge back on track.

The Saracens defeated Exeter Chiefs 28-20 in the Premiership final

Bristol 8-42 Harlequins
A devastating result for Bristol. After a recent upturn in form seeing them beat Sale and Worcester recently. Harlequins, who were winless away from home all season, were also missing their England contingent, outclassed their opponents scoring five tries with Ruaridh Jackson also adding 12 points from the tee.

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Joe Merchant crossed the line after only three minutes to give Quins an early lead which Jason Woodward then cut to four with a penalty after 11 minutes. A Jackson penalty then negating this before the brightest point of the afternoon for Bristol occurred as Tom Varndell became the top try scorer in Premiership history with his 91st try overtaking Mark Cueto.

That was as good as it got for Bristol as Mark Reddish, Charlie Mulchrone, Matt Hooper and James Chisholm all scored in the second half as Quins turned the screw. Bristol will need to pick themselves up very quickly as the trap door looms large again whereas Harlequins can start looking at the playoff places.

Sale 26-24 Newcastle
Another game that saw a late penalty decide it. Will Addison kicked Sale to victory in the 75th minute to deny Newcastle the win despite Vereniki Goenva’s hat trick. After six successive defeats, including one to the bottom side Bristol, Sale were nervously looking over their shoulder and needed a victory to ease their nerves of relegation.

Things didn’t look good after 27 minutes after Juan Pablo Socino and Goneva both scored, with Joel Hodgson converting one of them.

Sale’s replies came from the boot of Addison who scored two penalties to have the score at 12-6 before try machine Denny Solomona and Byron McGuigan on the stroke of half time scored to give the Sharks a 12-6 lead.

Bryn Evans’ score ten minutes after half time meant that the Sale fans could breathe a bit easier but a quick fire Goneva double quickly ensured the finger nails were being bitten again. Again only one of those tries were converted, a fact that would haunt the Falcons at the final whistle. Holding a one point lead the Newcastle forwards were penalised at a scrum as Sale applied severe pressure and Addison did the rest.

Leicester 34-9 Gloucester
Leicester recorded a much needed victory after a winless two months has seen their playoffs hopes slipping through their fingers. They managed to collect a try bonus point in the process and kept a poor Gloucester team tryless. New signing Maxime Mermoz came off the bench in the 51st minute and collected an 80th minute, bonus point try as Leicester put their recent troubles behind them.

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Luke Hamilton, a penalty try and Adam Thompstone were the other try scorers all of which were converted by Freddie Burns and Owen Williams. Burns also added a penalty and Williams a drop goal to complete the scoring. Hamilton’s try came after only three minutes and after Billy Burns, Freddie’s younger brother, had knocked over a penalty for Gloucester the Leicester pack decimated the Gloucester scrum leaving the referee no option but to award a penalty try. Williams knocked over his drop goal on the stroke of half time which was immediately cancelled out a minute into the second half by Burns.

He added his third penalty ten minutes later before Leicester took complete control with Thompstone and Mermoz ensuring the Tigers picked up the bonus point.

Worcester 24-18 Saracens
The biggest shock of the season so far was witnessed at Sixways as second bottom Worcester toppled champions Saracens. Ryan Mills kicked eight penalties as the hosts got a deserved victory and put a he dent in Bristol’s hopes of staying up. Saracens were well beaten, poor discipline and handling errors ensured that Worcester were able to maintain their advantage throughout.

They were aggressive and determined and with their predicament that would fill their supporters with confidence that they may be able to stay in the division. Chris Ashton and Schalk Brits did score the only two tries of the game but Francois Hougaard, in his first game for the Warriors kept the Sarries defence on their toes and gave the Warriors a dimension they haven’t had for most of the season. Worcester will look to build on this result next week when they play Exeter next week whereas Saracens will want to brush this one off as an off day.

Exeter 35-35 Wasps
What a game! ten tries, two penalty tries, two yellow cards a red card and a draw. This was a superb advert for running rugby if not defence, although at times that was immense too. Both teams went past the 20 phase of attack on numerous occasions, showing superb continuity.

The first half saw both teams cross the whitewash three times with Christian Wade, a penalty try and Alex Rieder scoring for Wasps and Sam Simmonds, a penalty try and Jack Maunder replying for the Chiefs.

Wade’s try after four minute came after great work from Kurtley Beale and Jimmy Gopperth sent the winger clear to run in but the lead was short lived as Simmonds crashed over from close range.

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Mitch Lees then saw yellow for the Chiefs and Wasps made their numerical advantage count as they applied pressure at a five metre scrum to earn a penalty try. Scrum half Maunder was the next to score, supporting after a strong run from fullback Phil Dolman. Rieder was then the recipient of a superb delayed pass from Dan Robson to stroll under the posts.

Exeter then got a penalty try of their own after Thomas Young collapsed a maul and was yellow carded for his troubles. 21-21 at half time gave the fans a chance to breathe. This was short lived as Luke Cowan-Dickie scored under the posts after being put through by Gareth Steenson.

Jonny Hill was sent off a minute later for reckless use of the arm at a ruck where he connected with Ashley Johnson’s face with a swinging arm and soon after that Danny Cipriani created a huge hole that Kyle Eastmond breezed through.

Exeter fought back again and Olly Woodburn benefitted from the referee missing a blatant crossing in the midfield and poor Wasps defence to once again put Exeter seven points to the good. Joe Simpson’s try after a break out from Frank Halai ended the frantic scoring as both teams ran out of steam towards the end of a thoroughly enjoyable game.

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