It has been nearly two months since Gallagher PREM Rugby was in action. The league’s stars have been away competing in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, but now club competition comes back into focus.
It has been nearly two months since Gallagher PREM Rugby was in action. The league’s stars have been away competing in the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, but now club competition comes back into focus.
The last round of fixtures took place on 23rd and 24th January, with wins for Bath, Bristol Bears, Saracens, Leicester Tigers, and Northampton Saints. The Saints are currently top, with Bath, Exeter Chiefs and Tigers in the playoff places.
While the Six Nations has been on, the PREM Rugby Cup kept the club rivalries brewing, and a day after the Six Nations Super Saturday, Leicester ran amok at home to Exeter Chiefs to claim their first trophy of the season.
There are storylines galore in the coming matches. Can those new faces who emerged in the Cup carry that form on into the league? Will the Six Nations stars pick up where they left off, or will they be fatigued? What affect will the player and coach roundabout have on proceedings?
Read on to see the storylines that most interest ATR…
Bath v Saracens – Friday, 19.45 (all times local)
A match that is already being called the “Alfie Barbeary Derby,” in some quarters, after the recent announcement that the aforementioned, title winning, Bath number eight will be heading east to Saracens in the summer to fill the void left by Tom Willis’ impending move to Bordeaux-Begles.
Barbeary will, in turn be replaced by Sale Sharks’ Dan du Preez, but you can see why Saracens have gone for him. He’s still young enough at 25 to suggest his best years are ahead of him, and he has a similar style to Willis, a powerful carrier, with good hands and a touch more flair. He is also not (yet) in the England squad, so isn’t going to disappear for long stretches in the test window.
For Barbeary it is a very good move. Presumably he has received a pay rise, and it is well to remember that Willis broke into the England set-up while at Saracens (and would probably still be in it but for that move to France. England coach Steve Borthwick’s links to the club as a former captain are clear, and a bit of time in surrounds that he trust won’t do his test prospects any harm.
Harlequins v Gloucester – Saturday, 15.00
Both these sides will be desperate to end the season on an upswing especially after they shook up their coaching structures during the Six Nations break.
Harlequins have brought in ex-Australia coach Robbie Deans as a coaching consultant, albeit one who works remotely. Quite what they expect him to bring in those circumstances will become clearer, but it only muddies the water further in a season that began when Danny Wilson left for Cardiff Blues early in the campaign, when clarity is needed.
Gloucester, meanwhile, have appointed former Northampton Saints boss Chris Boyd as Technical Director and Rob Burgess as General Manager – Rugby in a bid to support George Skivington who has reverted back to head coach from director or rugby. There have been times this season when the former London Irish second row has looked bemused by what his team have produced, but they have the raw materials, and they have eight weeks to show that the balance off the pitch can match the talent on it.
Northampton Saints v Newcastle Red Bulls – Saturday, 15.00
All change again at Newcastle Red Bulls, who parted ways with Alan Dickens and replaced him on an interim basis with ex-Lions and Wales flyhalf Stephen Jones. It felt harsh on Dickens, who has steered the ship after Steve Diamond’s hasty departure in September, and he has now gone the same way just as it felt the Red Bulls were turning a corner.
Jones has build up a good level of coaching experience to go with his playing days that featured a strong showing in France for Clermont Auvergne. As a coach, he was part of Wayne Pivac’s staff for Scarlets and Wales and coached in Super Rugby Pacific with Moana Pasifika. This is his first time as the main man though, and it will be intriguing to see how he gets on in the top job. Just how much will he be tapping into Gregor Townsend’s knowledge as Red Bulls consultant now the Six Nations is over.?
He has certainly been given a rum first test as head coach, away to the table toppers, who welcome back their biggest stars. Alex Mitchell is missing, but Henry Pollock, Tommy Freeman, Fraser Dingwall, Alex Coles, Trevor Davison, and Fin Smith will have plenty to prove after mixed Six Nations displays.
Exeter Chiefs v Sale Sharks – Saturday, 15.05
Two teams that desperately need an upturn in form with two losses in their last two league matches, albeit matches that took place in January. Exeter still have a chance of reaching the playoffs, and they are only a point behind fourth-place Leicester Tigers, so it isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that they could leapfrog them over the weekend.
The Chiefs were boosted by the news that back rowers Ross Vintcent and Christ Tshiunza are back to fitness, albeit they finished on the losing side in the PREM Cup final. For Italian international Vintcent, it will be his first league match since October, while Welsh international Tshiunza will make his first appearance in the league this season.
Sale are on something of a low, with head coach Alex Sanderson sounding a downbeat tone in some of his media offerings this week. You can’t really blame him, with Dan du Preez off to Bath, Rafi Quirke heading for Newcastle Red Bulls, and the Curry brothers, Ben and Tom, out injured, plus rumours that they may be evicted from Salford Community Stadium. It is fair to say the season hasn’t worked out as envisaged for last season’s semifinalists, but the only way through it for the Sharks to show their teeth and fight their way back to form.
Leicester Tigers v Bristol Bears – Sunday, 15.00
Well, that didn’t take long, did it. Geoff Parling has been at Mattioli Woods Welford Road for less than a season and he has already won his first trophy. It came in impressive fashion too, with a 66-14 win over Exeter Chiefs in front of their home crowd.
At the heart of their win, and pre-Six Nations upturn in form in the PREM, is flyhalf Billy Searle. James O’Connor arrived at the end of summer with the expectation that he would wear the number 10 shirt, but the 29-year-old Searle has grabbed hold of the jersey and not let go. Against the Chiefs, he scored two of Tigers’ 10 tries and knocked over six conversions.
Ollie Chessum, Jack van Poortvliet, Ollie Cracknell, and Nicky Smith will return from the Six Nations with their tails up after their Round 5 performances, and in the latter pair’s case, and win. Parling’s challenge is to marry those players who have not been away with those who have. Compared to some, Leicester didn’t lose too many players, it is just the case that only Bristol Bears had fewer, with only Scottish fullback Tom Jordan back from international action.