Gallagher Premiership XV of the week - Round 22
The final round of the 2018/19 Gallagher Premiership regular season is in the books and what a round of rugby it was.
Northampton Saints’ playoff destiny was in their own hands going into the weekend and they kept pace with Exeter Chiefs for 50 minutes of their contest, before the table-toppers moved through the gears and the door was left ajar for Harlequins. The Londoners, however, were denied fourth spot by the cruellest of margins, missing a long-range penalty in the final minute, three points that would have seen them beat Wasps and sneak into fourth.
Elsewhere, Bath secured a last-minute win against Leicester Tigers, a result which confirmed their place in the Heineken Champions Cup next season and Newcastle Falcons were left with little to celebrate, as they fell to defeat at home at the hands of Bristol Bears, in their last game before spending a season in the Greene King IPA Championship.
Check out our last XV of the week for the 2018/19 season below.
- Charles Piutau, Bristol Bears
Willie le Roux and Mike Brown both had good games at the Ricoh Arena and Matt Gallagher shone, but it was the Charles Piutau show in the north-east, as the former All Black carved his way through the Newcastle defence. It was an incisive attacking performance that will have Bristol fans extremely optimistic about what he can bring to the side next season, if he can stay fit.
- Marcus Watson, Wasps
In a week in which left wings dominated, Watson was lively and reinforced to Wasps that he can be the man to pick up the slack in Christian Wade’s absence next season. He was on the same page as le Roux and Elliot Daly and his turn of pace was more than enough to separate him from defenders throughout a strong 60-minute showing from the home side.
- Piers O’Conor, Bristol Bears
The outside centre kept Newcastle quiet in the first half with good mobility and reading of the game in defence, before going on to impose himself offensively on the game in the second. He ran the ball well at Newcastle, finding holes in their defence on multiple occasions, as well as linking well with wide men Alapati Leiua and Luke Daniels.
- Johnny Williams, Newcastle Falcons
A word for the duo of Nick Tompkins and Matt Banahan, but Williams added the direct carrying and ability to get over the gain-line that Newcastle have missed at times this season when he was absent through injury. He grabbed a well-deserved consolation try in the dying minutes and Falcons will be hoping that they can keep hold of him in the Greene King IPA Championship next season.
McGuigan had a number of forays through the Gloucester defence and his combination of power and footwork made him difficult for the Cherry and Whites to keep under wraps. His second half try was reward for the endeavour and ambition he brought in the first half, helping set Sale up with good field position.
- Manu Vunipola, Saracens
The 19-year-old flourished in his first Premiership start, directing Saracens around the pitch and looking comfortable playing late on the gain-line in attack. He showed up well on defence, too, helping hold ball-carriers up and create mauls, as well as reading play well and shooting up in defence and making good one-on-one tackles.
- Faf de Klerk, Sale Sharks
No shortage of contenders, here, with Joe Simpson, Tom Whiteley and Cobus Reinach among the impressive performers. Even when Sale were under pressure, though, de Klerk was stepping up with vital offensive moments. The tempo he brought added to what was an enthralling contest at the AJ Bell and was the most effective weapon Sale had against a Gloucester side which performed well above expectation.
- Ben Moon, Exeter Chiefs
Moon anchored the Exeter scrum superbly, as his side exerted pressure on Northampton at the set-piece. He was a late call-up to the XV after injury to Alec Hepburn and Rob Baxter can’t have asked for much more from the England international, who was also busy in the loose, frequently clearing out with power and precision.
- Harry Thacker, Bristol Bears
Yet another industrious and efficient performance from the Bristol hooker, who has set the standards in the Premiership this season. His lineout throwing allowed Bristol to control possession and territory in the first half, before he cut loose as a threat with the ball in hand in the second half. His size might work against him in the international rugby conversation, but his form in the club game has been exemplary this season.
- Dan Cole, Leicester Tigers
An outing that will continue to ask questions about who should be backing up Kyle Sinckler for England, with Cole turning in a 76-minute shift that exemplified his energy and work rate throughout. He scrummaged well against Beno Obano and helped deliver quick and secure ball for Leicester at the breakdown.
- Nick Isiekwe, Saracens
A tireless performance from the second row, who was one of the heroes of St James’ Park for Saracens a week previous. Even at just 21 years of age, he was one of the leaders in a young and heavily rotated side and he led by example in defence. His mobility without the ball, both bringing line-speed and scrambling in broken field situations, belied that of a man who had likely spent much of the last week celebrating a European title.
- Charlie Ewels, Bath
There were plenty of similarities between Ewels’ performance and that of Isiekwe, the man that has seemingly taken on the mantle Ewels once had of being the next great hope in the English engine room. He was particularly potent close to the breakdown, as he offered a physical carrying option when Bath’s ball had been slowed down, whilst he was also effective preventing Leicester from making any sniping runs or decent gains with one-out runners and the pick and go.
The youngster saw off the challenge of Semi Kunatani, who had one of his better displays in a Quins shirt to date, with a physical display on both sides of the ball. He was a carrying presence that Saracens struggled to deal with at Sixways, but there was an element of subtlety to his game, too, with the flanker linking play well when required.
The openside was a constant source of gain-line success against Sale at the AJ Bell and thrived alongside Jake Polledri and Gareth Evans in an excellent performance from the entire back row unit. Ludlow kept phases alive and stretched the Sale defence, as Gloucester’s heavily rotated side gave Sale all they could handle in the north-west.
- Nathan Hughes, Wasps
An effervescent first half from the number eight, who rampaged his way through the Quins defence and repeatedly picked up the ball in space, running sharp lines back against the grain and catching tacklers unaware. He had a quieter second half, but his strong first 50 minutes allowed for Wasps to establish a lead that Quins were not quite able to reel back in.
Watch: Interview with Raelene Castle in the aftermath of the Israel Folau sacking
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 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.
30 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 comments