Gallagher Premiership XV of the Week - Round 3
Gloucester continued their undefeated start to the season in Round 3 of the Gallagher Premiership, beating Bristol Bears at Kingsholm and shoring up their place in the top four.
Saracens and Exeter Chiefs continued their campaigns with 15 points from three games and Newcastle Falcons emerged victorious at the bottom of the table, beating Worcester Warriors, 23-20, subjecting Worcester to their third losing bonus point in as many games.
We have compiled the top performers from the third round of competition.
- Liam Williams, Saracens
A rare outing for Williams at 15, with Alex Goode moved to 10, and the Welshman shone with the extra counter-attacking duties that were asked of him. His breaks and passes directly facilitated tries for both Alex Lewington and David Strettle, as well as another break laying the foundation for a second score by Strettle. As a finisher and a facilitator, Williams has started the 2018/19 season in fine form.
- Charlie Sharples, Gloucester
A clinical finishing display from Sharples, who rode a dominant Gloucester pack to two tries against Bristol. A surprise inclusion in the Gloucester squad after seemingly being knocked out in their game against Bath last week, Sharples took his tally of Premiership tries to 50.
- Henry Slade, Exeter Chiefs
After taking the England 13 jersey in the summer due to absence of the injured Jonathan Joseph, Slade is making a strong claim for retaining it this season. For the second week in a row, Slade shone with his decision-making in the 13 channel. His carrying and passing both unlocked the Sale defence on the gain-line and his ability as a versatile offensive threat was reinforced this weekend. A nod, too, for Wasps’ Juan de Jongh, who bagged a brace at the Ricoh and was ever present in support for his side’s linebreaks.
- Ben Tapuai, Harlequins
A tough call that could easily have gone to Jamie Roberts, with the two centres who exchanged clubs in the summer putting in effective performances for their new employers at the Stoop. Tapuai’s ability to make the first tackler miss and then accelerate through the hole was repeatedly on show on Saturday, and he held up well against the power carrying that both Roberts and Jackson Willison brought.
- Joe Cokanasiga, Bath
This was Cokanasiga’s coming out party for Bath, as he cannonballed his way to two tries against Harlequins at the Stoop. It wasn’t just his power on show, but also his speed and footwork, as the former London Irish man tormented the Quins defence, which had no answer for him. He also showed great awareness and balance to set up Roberts for the centre’s try.
- George Ford, Leicester Tigers
Another classy performance from Ford, who seems to be relishing in the competition offered by Danny Cipriani for the England 10 jersey. He managed to game excellently against Wasps, helping make up for the red card to Will Spencer in the first half, and stood strong in the tackle on a number of occasions. Kicked at goal well and made the final pass or kick for three of Leicester’s four tries.
- Jack Maunder, Exeter Chiefs
Not many teams can lose two scrum-halves to injury and still field a player as effective as Maunder. The 21-year-old kept the tempo up, passed crisply from the base and took charge of Exeter’s powerhouse pack before he was replaced late in the game by his younger brother, Sam.
- Sami Mavinga, Newcastle Falcons
Mavinga had solid outings in his first two games of the season and then built on that against Worcester on Saturday. He made the big line-break that resulted in Sonatane Takulua’s try and squared up well against Simon Kerrod in the scrum. If Newcastle can bring him into the game more as a ball-carrier, they will prosper from it this season.
- Franco Marais, Gloucester
The South African’s first start in the Premiership was an impressive one and aside from one errant throw, it was an effective and clean performance. He gave Gloucester some grunt around the fringes, whilst their back-row went to work slightly further out from the breakdowns, and he was busy in defence, helping ensure very little front-foot ball for Bristol.
- Henry Thomas, Bath
Thomas helped lay the foundations for an eye-catching Bath win at the Stoop and it started with a solid showing in the scrum. He carried well, too, and helped shift the point of contact in the tight with a display of good handling skills.
- Ed Slater, Gloucester
The perfect captain’s performance from Slater, who led from the front for the Cherry and Whites. He was a reliable target at the lineout, stood up with the tough carries after slow ball and even with defences set, always seemed to find a way of making a metre or two and allowing Gloucester to flood forward onto the ball in the next phase. Really laid the platform for an excellent outing for the club’s back-rowers.
- Maro Itoje, Saracens
There was an energy and an impact to everything Itoje did on Saturday, with the lock rarely away from the action. His work at the contact area was effective, both in attack and defence, he carried strongly and frequently led the defensive line with his impressive work rate.
- Jake Polledri, Gloucester
A ruthless performance from the Italian international, who was all but uncontainable one-on-one. His carrying constantly kept Gloucester on the front-foot, his tackling was powerful and shut down Bristol on the gain-line and his blend of power and footwork made him a nightmare for Bristol defenders to track and bring down.
https://twitter.com/premrugby/status/1040977411578449922
- Lewis Ludlow, Gloucester
Joins his Gloucester teammate on the flanks, after turning in a dynamic performance at Kingsholm. A real rarity, Ludlow didn’t actually lead his side in tackles on Friday night, making just a paltry – by his standards – 13, but he was far more influential with the ball in hand, adding another strong carrying presence alongside Polledri. He had an important role securing quick and clean attacking ball at the contact area, too.
- Zach Mercer, Bath
The Bath number eight, rather aptly, just does enough to deny an all-Gloucester back-row, with Ruan Ackermann a more than honourable mention here. Mercer stormed through the Harlequins defence on multiple occasions and continues to set himself apart with his reading of the game and the consequent ability to arrive onto the ball at speed. Throw in his incisive lines, quick footwork and powerful fend and he was quite the offensive weapon at the Stoop.
Comments on RugbyPass
Je 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!😭😭😭 !!!
25 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
25 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.
25 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.
25 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 commentsYes Sir! Surprising, just like Fraser would also have escaped sanction if he was a few inches lower, even if it was by accident that he missed! Has there really been talk about those sanctions or is this just sensational journalism? I stopped reading, so might have missed any notations.
11 Go to comments