After a two week hiatus for the European cup, Aviva Premiership Rugby returned this weekend. Below is a wrap up of Week 7’s action.
Northampton 23-20 Gloucester
Northampton wrestled victory away from Gloucester with replacement scrum half Tom Kessell going over with just over ten minutes left. Greg Laidlaw missed two early penalties after Matt Scott had put Ben Foden under a lot of pressure and that was to prove costly.
Errors were plentiful in a game between two teams trying to return to former glories. French number eight Louis Picamoles was driven over by his pack for the first try of the game.
Gloucester responded with two tries to take the lead, the second scored by forgotten England winger Charlie Sharples and two penalties from Laidlaw looked to have given the Cherry and Whites a rare victory and Franklins Gardens before Kessell’s intervention.
Harlequins 36-14 Worcester
Harlequins continued their climb up the table with a bonus point victory at home against struggling Worcester. Two tries in the first ten minutes gave supporters false hope of a ding dong battle as the half time score remained 7-7.
Quins went through the gears in the second half scoring four tries with Ben Te’o replying for the visitors. Te’o’s was a great response from the Warriors after they conceded two tries in five minutes but an intercept try from centre Joe Merchant knocked the stuffing out of their challenge before Tim Visser rounding things off with a try just before full time.
Quins move up to sixth and are eyeing the top four at the moment.
Saracens 24-10 Leicester
Leicester ended a bad news week with defeat to the champions at Allianz Park. Matt Toomua had only just joined up with his new teammates but is now out of action for six months with a knee injury.
Owen Farrell was meticulous again with the boot converting all three of his side’s tries and adding a penalty as well with Leicester replying in the form of a converted George Catchpole try and an Owen Williams penalty.
Chris Wyles and Sean Maitland scored first half tries which was added to by big Billy Vunipola in the second half. Mako Vunipola saw yellow for a shoulder charge on Freddie Burns in what was the only negative on a good day for the champions.
Their defence once again strangled the opposition with the Tigers try coming during the time when Vunipola was in the sin bin. On this form not many teams in the world would want to play them.
Wasps 31-6 Newcastle
Wasps made it 14 home victories in a row with a bonus-point win over Newcastle. Jimmy Gopperth added another 21 points to his already impressive total for the season with two tries, four conversions and a penalty.
The result doesn’t tell the full story as Wasps were certainly not at their fluid best. Newcastle were the better side in the opening exchanges, winning Wasps first lineout and scrums against the head.
It all changed when Simon Hammersley was sent to the sin bin. Joe Launchbury had made inroads in to the Falcons defence and after consultation with the TMS Hammersley was adjudged to have deliberately knocked on Kyle Eastmond’s pass which resulted in a penalty try and yellow card.
That gave Wasps a ten-point cushion which was extended to 17 when Frank Halai went over. Mike Delaney put the Falcons on the board just before half time but they could only add one other penalty in the second half as this time it was the Wasps defence that was the star of the show.
Danny Cipriani came on to try and inspire a misfiring attack and he put Gopperth in for both of his tries to give the score line an unfair reflection on Newcastle. The win puts Wasps a point behind leaders Saracens.
Bristol 13-31 Sale
Bristol are still looking for their first win of the season whereas victory puts Sale now in fifth place. Gavin Henson, making only his second appearance of the season, went off injured after 12 minutes but Bristol could feel very happy being only 12-0 down at the break after Sale bombed two golden opportunities to add to Paolo Odogwu and Mike Haley’s scores.
Byron McGuigan, Eifion Lewis-Roberts and Tom Curry did score in the second half to ensure the Sharks picked up maximum points from their ventures to the West Country. Veteran winger David Lemi did cross the line for Bristol in the final minute after Shane Geraghty had scored their first points for 137 minutes with a penalty in the 47th minute. As every week goes by it looks more and more like mission impossible for Bristol.
Exeter 10-13 Bath
A try eight minutes into injury time from winger Semesa Rokoduguni gave Bath bragging rights over Exeter and keeps them within touching distance of the top two. The defeat, Exeter’s fifth in a row, leaves last year’s runners up with a lot of work to do to make the final series at the end of the season.
Both sides approached the game full of attacking intent but a mixture of handling errors and strong defence ensured a tight a nervy affair right until the final whistle.
Gareth Steenson got the first points of the afternoon with a penalty on 15 minutes that was equalised by George Ford on his third shot at goal just after half time. Ford added another penalty 20 minutes later only for Exeter to storm into the lead with lock Mitch Lees powering over.
Steenson converted and that looked like it would be enough to snap Exeter’s losing streak only for Rokoduguni’s late magic to win it at the end.
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