10 things you need to know ahead of the Gallagher Premiership restart
The long-awaited 2019/20 Gallagher Premiership restart finally takes place this Friday when Harlequins host Sale at The Stoop nearly 23 weeks after the last match in the tournament, the March 8 Ashton Gate encounter between Bristol and Quins.
Nine rounds of fixtures along with the playoffs – a total of 57 matches – will be played between Friday and the planned October 24 final. Below is a list of ten stats to remind everyone of what is at stake in the weeks and months ahead.
1. It has been 159 days since the last Gallagher Premiership Rugby game, the longest hiatus ever between Premiership matches. The previous record was 139 days between the 2015 final and the start of the 2015/16 season, and exactly the same four years later.
2. All to play for: Exeter obtained 43 of a possible 45 league points on offer from the last nine rounds in the 2016/17 season, while in 2008/09 Leicester climbed from sixth spot in the league table after round 13 to top place by round 22.
3. There is a five-way tie for the most Premiership tries this season with seven tries each being run in by Ben Earl, Ollie Hassell-Collins, Zach Kibirige, Luke Morahan and Louis Rees-Zammit.
The high stakes restart…https://t.co/KMFLikRQCQ
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 12, 2020
4. Worcester’s Perry Humphreys has scored five tries, while his teammates have scored just 13 more between them, the highest individual contribution of any one player in the Premiership this season.
5. Four players have amassed over a century of points this campaign: Marcus Smith leads the way with 126 followed by Callum Sheedy (122), Robert du Preez (116) and Rhys Priestland (111). The latter has scored almost half of Bath’s total points tally this season.
6. Exeter’s Gareth Steenson has missed just one kick at goal in 30 attempts this season – a 31st-minute conversion against Sale on 25 January. It’s his only miss in the Gallagher Premiership in his last 35 shots since March 2019.
7. Things could have been so different for Bristol and Worcester. The two clubs have each been involved in eight close encounters where the result was either a draw or the losing side obtained a losing bonus point. However, Bristol lost just two such matches while Worcester won only two of their eight.
8. Don’t let Saracens get ahead of you. Sarries have not lost any of the eight Premiership matches that they have been leading at the half-time break.
9. 69 per cent of all Gloucester’s points this season have been scored by the way of tries, by far the best contribution in the Gallagher Premiership.
10. There have been only three dropped goals kicked so far in 2019/20 – by Robert du Preez, James Grayson and Dan Robson. Grayson followed his father Paul in becoming the first father and son pair to have both dropped a goal in Premiership history, while Robson became only the eighth scrum-half to drop a goal.
'As a black player, you get pigeon-holed. You’re either an athlete and you’ll get stuck on the wing or he’s big, let’s stick him in the second row' @Harlequins wing @natenate174 talks about gaining coaches' trust, his ACL, BLM & more, with @heagneyl ???https://t.co/qxaJxTQeXM
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) August 2, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
Except for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
33 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
33 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
49 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
33 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
33 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
33 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
33 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
33 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to comments