First major challenge of Premiership restart arrives: will Bristol or Exeter regret their approaches?
New breakdown interpretations, empty stadiums and mid-season squad changes – it’s been a massive adjustment for Gallagher Premiership teams as they enter the brave new world of post-COVID rugby.
A massive challenge is now about to hit teams this week with the first double-up round of matches set to begin on Tuesday evening.
While the PRO14 have resorted to playing a pair of derbies before heading into the knockout rounds and Super Rugby required a complete reset, the Premiership has forged ahead with the intention of completing the normal regular season before the finals take place. That’s required a massive contraction of the time allotted between matches, however – which means after being eased into what’s almost a new season of rugby over the past two weekends, Premiership sides will now be playing two games every week.
It’s a unique situation. While fans of other sporting codes are accustomed to seeing their teams hit the pitch or court multiple times in a seven-day cycle, it’s a rarity for rugby. During the World Cup, nations will often have to cope with the odd short recovery period here and there but that’s still nothing compared to how Premiership players are going to be tested over the five remaining rounds of competition.
How coaches navigate the upcoming period will be crucial to who makes the playoffs – and how they’ll perform once they get there – and already we’re seeing contrasting approaches.
As it currently stands, Exeter Chiefs are eight points clear at the top of the table and it would take a massive fall from grace for Rob Baxter’s charges to miss out on the playoffs.
Baxter, however, is taking a long-term approach this week and has made 14 changes to the team that comfortably disposed of Sale over the weekend with wing Olly Woodburn the sole survivor.
“When you look at it, it’s probably going to be the first time where teams will genuinely make a lot of changes, because there are the regulations for these midweek blocks where you have that element of limiting game minutes for players and also that no players can start all three games,” Baxter said following the team naming.
“It will be interesting to see what teams do and how they approach it but at the same time, it’s also very exciting.
“The collection of points we’ve had helps ease the pressure, but we need to keep challenging ourselves.”
While all teams will have to adjust to the player welfare restrictions, it’s a considerably easier task for the Chiefs, given their massive lead at the top of the table. While they still won’t want to drop any fixtures, it’s not the end of the world if they do.
That’s a massive contrast to the other teams duking it out for playoff spots, because any loss could be the last nail in the coffin.
The Chiefs’ upcoming opposition, Bristol Bears, are sitting in second place and were it not for the changes to the competition’s structure caused by the mid-season interruption, rugby fans across the globe would be salivating at the thought of Tuesday’s clash.
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The Bears have to play four of the top five teams in their remaining matches so every point will be crucial – which is likely why Pat Lam is resting a number of players but not completely overhauling his team.
The likes of Steven Luatua, Callum Sheedy, Semi Radradra and Charles Piutau are all starting their third games on the trot and will likely need to sit out Bristol’s match against the Sharks over the weekend. Keeping a number of leaders on the field for the match with Exeter, then saving others such as John Afoa, Ben Earl and Siale Piutau for the weekend will ensure that there’s always a steady concentration of talent and experience on the park.
Assuming Exeter’s contingent do succumb to Bristol, they’ll still remain in pole position for the coming weeks and will need to book just three wins from their final matches to safely secure top spot – and that’s assuming their nearest challengers don’t trip themselves up.
Once the finals arrive, Baxter’s men will still be fit and fresh for the knockout rugby that lies ahead of them – but that won’t necessarily be the case for their rivals.
Lam will be targeting Bristol’s match with Worcester in a week and a half as the perfect chance to roll out the B-team, which will at least provide some relief for the men who have heavy workloads over the next two matches.
That’s a tactic that Wasps head coach Lee Blackett has implemented already. Blackett completely rotated his squad for Wasps’ opening two matches since the restart, with the back-ups comfortably accounting for the 10th placed Warriors over the weekend. Now, the Wasps coach has reverted to the same team from the opening game for Tuesday’s fixture with Sale which could see the two teams swap positions on the ladder if the Sharks score a win.
Like Bristol, Wasps and Sale will be carefully planning when they can afford to rest and rotate their players – but both teams have obviously identified their derby as a must-win, given the respective sides they’re choosing to roll out.
While Sale have mixed things up from their opening two games, that’s likely as much to do with trying to find a winning formula as it is to keep players fresh, following their two losses since the restart. The Sharks’ season would take a disastrous turn with another loss in succession and Steve Diamond will be desperate to bank some points this round.
All in all, we’re seeing some very different tactics from the coaches for what looms as the biggest challenge of the Premiership restart: keeping players fresh while not sacrificing an all-important spot in the playoffs.
Will Rob Baxter’s mass rotation come back to bite Exeter in the sudden death stages of the competition, or will his refreshed team be ready to push on for their first title since 2017? And will Pat Lam’s planning pave the way for Bristol’s first Premiership finals appearance since 2007?
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments