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First major challenge of Premiership restart arrives: will Bristol or Exeter regret their approaches?

By Tom Vinicombe
Pat Lam and Rob Baxter. (Photos by Getty Images)

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.

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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.

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England star Courtney Lawes spoke to RugbyPass this week, opening up on many of the pressing topics circulating the Rugby World.

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England star Courtney Lawes spoke to RugbyPass this week, opening up on many of the pressing topics circulating the Rugby World.

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.

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“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.

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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.

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?

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Jon 4 hours ago
Jake White: Are modern rugby players actually better?

This is the problem with conservative mindsets and phycology, and homogenous sports, everybody wants to be the same, use the i-win template. Athlete wise everyone has to have muscles and work at the gym to make themselves more likely to hold on that one tackle. Do those players even wonder if they are now more likely to be tackled by that player as a result of there “work”? Really though, too many questions, Jake. Is it better Jake? Yes, because you still have that rugby of ole that you talk about. Is it at the highest International level anymore? No, but you go to your club or checkout your representative side and still engage with that ‘beautiful game’. Could you also have a bit of that at the top if coaches encouraged there team to play and incentivized players like Damian McKenzie and Ange Capuozzo? Of course we could. Sadly Rugby doesn’t, or didn’t, really know what direction to go when professionalism came. Things like the state of northern pitches didn’t help. Over the last two or three decades I feel like I’ve been fortunate to have all that Jake wants. There was International quality Super Rugby to adore, then the next level below I could watch club mates, pulling 9 to 5s, take on the countries best in representative rugby. Rugby played with flair and not too much riding on the consequences. It was beautiful. That largely still exists today, but with the world of rugby not quite getting things right, the picture is now being painted in NZ that that level of rugby is not required in the “pathway” to Super Rugby or All Black rugby. You might wonder if NZR is right and the pathway shouldn’t include the ‘amateur’, but let me tell you, even though the NPC might be made up of people still having to pull 9-5s, we know these people still have dreams to get out of that, and aren’t likely to give them. They will be lost. That will put a real strain on the concept of whether “visceral thrill, derring-do and joyful abandon” type rugby will remain under the professional level here in NZ. I think at some point that can be eroded as well. If only wanting the best athlete’s at the top level wasn’t enough to lose that, shutting off the next group, or level, or rugby players from easy access to express and showcase themselves certainly will. That all comes back around to the same question of professionalism in rugby and whether it got things right, and rugby is better now. Maybe the answer is turning into a “no”?

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j
john 7 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

But here in Australia we were told Penney was another gun kiwi coach, for the Tahs…….and yet again it turned out the kiwi coach was completely useless. Another con job on Australian rugby. As was Robbie Deans, as was Dave Rennie. Both coaches dumped from NZ and promoted to Australia as our saviour. And the Tahs lap them up knowing they are second rate and knowing that under pressure when their short comings are exposed in Australia as well, that they will fall in below the largest most powerful province and choose second rate Tah players to save their jobs. As they do and exactly as Joe Schmidt will do. Gauranteed. Schmidt was dumped by NZ too. That’s why he went overseas. That why kiwi coaches take jobs in Australia, to try and prove they are not as bad as NZ thought they were. Then when they get found out they try and ingratiate themselves to NZ again by dragging Australian teams down with ridiculous selections and game plans. NZ rugby’s biggest problem is that it can’t yet transition from MCaw Cheatism. They just don’t know how to try and win on your merits. It is still always a contest to see how much cheating you can get away with. Without a cheating genius like McCaw, they are struggling. This I think is why my wise old mate in NZ thinks Robertson will struggle. The Crusaders are the nursery of McCaw Cheatism. Sean Fitzpatrick was probably the father of it. Robertson doesn’t know anything else but other countries have worked it out.

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A
Adrian 9 hours ago
Will the Crusaders' decline spark a slow death for New Zealand rugby?

Thanks Nick The loss of players to OS, injury and retirement is certainly not helping the Crusaders. Ditto the coach. IMO Penny is there to hold the fort and cop the flak until new players and a new coach come through,…and that's understood and accepted by Penny and the Crusaders hierarchy. I think though that what is happening with the Crusaders is an indicator of what is happening with the other NZ SRP teams…..and the other SRP teams for that matter. Not enough money. The money has come via the SR competition and it’s not there anymore. It's in France, Japan and England. Unless or until something is done to make SR more SELLABLE to the NZ/Australia Rugby market AND the world rugby market the $s to keep both the very best players and the next rung down won't be there. They will play away from NZ more and more. I think though that NZ will continue to produce the players and the coaches of sufficient strength for NZ to have the capacity to stay at the top. Whether they do stay at the top as an international team will depend upon whether the money flowing to SRP is somehow restored, or NZ teams play in the Japan comp, or NZ opts to pick from anywhere. As a follower of many sports I’d have to say that the organisation and promotion of Super Rugby has been for the last 20 years closest to the worst I’ve ever seen. This hasn't necessarily been caused by NZ, but it’s happened. Perhaps it can be fixed, perhaps not. The Crusaders are I think a symptom of this, not the cause

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T
Trevor 12 hours ago
Will forgotten Wallabies fit the Joe Schmidt model?

Thanks Brett.. At last a positive article on the potential of Wallaby candidates, great to read. Schmidt’s record as an international rugby coach speaks for itself, I’m somewhat confident he will turn the Wallaby’s fortunes around …. on the field. It will be up to others to steady the ship off the paddock. But is there a flaw in my optimism? We have known all along that Australia has the players to be very competitive with their international rivals. We know that because everyone keeps telling us. So why the poor results? A question that requires a definitive answer before the turn around can occur. Joe Schmidt signed on for 2 years, time to encompass the Lions tour of 2025. By all accounts he puts family first and that’s fair enough, but I would wager that his 2 year contract will be extended if the next 18 months or so shows the statement “Australia has the players” proves to be correct. The new coach does not have a lot of time to meld together an outfit that will be competitive in the Rugby Championship - it will be interesting to see what happens. It will be interesting to see what happens with Giteau law, the new Wallaby coach has already verbalised that he would to prefer to select from those who play their rugby in Australia. His first test in charge is in July just over 3 months away .. not a long time. I for one wish him well .. heaven knows Australia needs some positive vibes.

21 Go to comments
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