Aviva Premiership Round Up – 1st win for Worcester, while Saints search for form

BECOME A PATRON

The East Midlands Derby was the talking point of the weekend as Leicester Tigers travelled to Franklins Gardens.

It was a controversial and frantic finish, as the Tigers managed to extend their run of wins against the Saints since 2010 – especially when the final whistle was blown with 9 seconds left on the clock. A questionable decision, but that aside, Leicester looked the stronger side, even when they went down to thirteen men!

A disappointing 16-22 result for Northampton but despite the loss, can they manage to regroup and hold on tight to 2nd position in the Premiership?

After 22 defeats in a row in the Premiership, Worcester Warriors dug deep and chalked up their first victory of the season by beating Newcastle Falcons 12 – 17 at Kingston Park and the smiles all round at the end were a joy to see. It wasn’t pretty but it was a win nevertheless and it keeps their survival hopes alive. They haven’t thrown in the towel just yet! Brilliant!!

Bath welcomed play-off chasing Sale Sharks to The Rec. The battle of Danny Cipriani and George Ford was always going to be a delight to watch and unfortunately it wasn’t Ford’s night, missing countless kicks and two drop goal attempts.

The physicality of this game was displayed in the continuous scrummaging and resets; with no penalty try being given as there was no movement forward when repeated scrums collapsed. Even though Bath scored in the dying moments of the game, it came down to the last kick and Ford just couldn’t cut it, shaving the outside edge. Final score, 11-12; A very precious win for Sale Sharks. But can they push up into that top four?

Exeter faced Gloucester at Sandy Park and the teams were pretty well matched in their set piece. The Cherry and Whites were on course for their 3rd win in four league matches, but ill discipline saw Gloucester down to thirteen men in the closing moments of the game.

Ironically, it was all to be decided on a kick yet again this weekend; Gareth Steenson took the conversion to win Exeter the match but the ball drifted agonisingly wide and Gloucester came away with a 13-14 win. A close run affair in this West Country derby.

London Irish were the visitors to the Stoop and after Quins’ performance last weekend at Wembley, Connor O’Shea was adamant his team needed to seal the deal on home turf to be in with a chance of a play off position. And they did the job. A well executed performance saw them reign righteous with a 23-9 victory. Quins’ next Premiership encounter at Sale will be crucial!

Wasps welcomed Saracens to Adams Park, but they were missing their sting and were defeated 20-32, on home turf. They did look impressive at the outset and it was an even contest initially but then Saracens broke away as Jamie George scored his second try of the game. Even though the Wasps fought back it was a little too late. Ruthless efficiency from the Saracens sees them stay firmly at the top of the Premiership.

Results:

Northampton Saints 16-22 Leicester Tigers

Newcastle Flacons 12-17 Worcester Warriors

Bath 11-12 Sale Sharks

Exeter Chiefs 13-14 Gloucester

Harlequins 23-9 London Irish

London Wasps 20-32 Saracens

Table:

Aviva Premiership Table

Pos

Team

P

W

D

L

BP

Points

1

Saracens

18

16

0

2

8

72

2

Northampton Saints

18

14

1

3

7

65

3

Leicester Tigers

18

12

2

4

6

58

4

Bath

18

12

1

5

5

55

5

Sale Sharks

18

11

0

7

7

51

6

Harlequins

18

11

0

7

5

49

7

London Wasps

18

7

0

11

11

39

8

Gloucester

18

7

0

11

8

36

9

Exeter Chiefs

18

7

0

11

7

35

10

London Irish

18

5

0

13

6

26

11

Newcastle Falcons

18

3

0

15

7

19

12

Worcester Warriors

18

1

0

17

6

10

By Rhiannon Chandler-Day

@RhiannonCDay

To see more from Rhiannon, please check out her blog at: rhiannonsrugbyunionblog.blogspot.co.ukrhiannonsrugbyunionblog.blogspot.co.uk

SHARING IS CARING!
Leave a Response

Leave a Reply

Related Articles

Back to top