Gallagher Premiership XV of the Week - Round 2
The second round of Gallagher Premiership fixtures offered teams the chance at redemption or consolidation after the opening round of the season and Leicester Tigers, under new stewardship in the form of Geordan Murphy, stole the show with a 49-33 win over Newcastle Falcons.
Among the other notable results, the west country derby between Bath and Gloucester ended in a thrilling 31-all draw and Exeter Chiefs outclassed Wasps in Coventry, grabbing a valuable 42-31 victory over their title rivals.
We have rounded up the most impressive performers from another exciting round of Premiership rugby.
- Alex Goode, Saracens
Plenty of candidates this week, including strong showings from Piers O’Conor, Jason Woodward and Harry Mallinder, but Goode continues to show his class as a playmaker when he joins the line. The full-back frequently made passes against Bristol Bears that cut their defence open, whilst he was also a danger with ball in hand. Did well, too, defensively, in a new-look back three built more around offensive ability than defensive reliability.
- Vereniki Goneva, Newcastle Falcons
The fountain of youth has been discovered and it resides in Goneva’s basement. Despite turning 34 years of age back in April, the Fijian wing continues to torment Premiership defences and although he wasn’t making his usual marauding runs against Leicester on Saturday, he was showing all of the accrued savvy of his extensive career. He popped up in the right places at just the right times and he exploited the holes in the Tigers defence perfectly for two tries.
- Henry Slade, Exeter Chiefs
The centre put down a big marker ahead of the autumn internationals, with an incisive and clinical performance in the wide channels against Wasps. Slade’s decision-making was exemplary at the Ricoh Arena and he looked in fine physical shape, even outpacing Elliot Daly for the first of his two tries on the day.
An honourable mention, too, for Manu Tuilagi, who had a strong outing at Welford Road and will be hoping this is the beginning of the end of his injury woes in recent seasons.
- Piers Francis, Northampton Saints
Northampton were profligate at Franklin’s Gardens on Friday night and should have put more points on Harlequins than they did, but that was not the fault of Francis, who pulled the strings well outside of Dan Biggar. The pair have the making of an effective axis for Northampton and complemented each well against Quins, with Francis stepping up as a dual-threat on the gain-line.
- Santiago Cordero, Exeter Chiefs
This could easily have been Jonny May or Alapati Leiua, who bagged a brace of tries apiece, or Liam Williams, who came off the bench to score a hat-trick against Bristol Bears. They were excellent finishers but neither quite matched up to the overall impact that Cordero had on his Exeter side, as the Argentine adds a scintillating counter-attacking threat to the pragmatism of the Chiefs. He scythed through Wasps time and time again on Saturday afternoon.
- George Ford, Leicester Tigers
The fly-half accounted for 29 points in Leicester’s win over Newcastle and looks like he will thrive as the spearhead in Murphy’s vision of the Tigers moving forward. Ford mixed up his game excellently, shredding the Falcons’ defence as both a distributor and a runner and showed none of the one-dimensional elements that had previously plagued Tigers under Matt O’Connor.
- Stuart Townsend, Exeter Chiefs
Questionable barnet aside, Townsend seemed to thrive in the high-tempo, end-to-end game that took place at the Ricoh. He picked his moments to run at the Wasps defence well, gave the Exeter back line quick and clean ball and generally prospered with his decision-making.
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- Mako Vunipola, Saracens
Emptied the tank at Allianz Park, as he so often does. Contributed to an efficient set-piece and regularly was the first receiver, making the hard yards and setting up his side to push the tempo in subsequent phases.
- Tom Dunn, Bath
The brace of tries Dunn picked up will grab the headlines, but his all-round game was equally impressive at the Rec. He was a source of front-foot ball in the Bath pack, had the lineout in good nick and showed impressive energy in defence.
- Kieran Brookes, Wasps
The former Northampton Saint gave Exeter’s Alec Hepburn a torrid day in the scrum on Saturday and sent out a reminder that he’s a tighthead who perhaps should be back on England’s radar. He was replaced by the more dynamic Will Stuart early in the second half, but until then, he caused all sorts of problems for the usually solid Exeter scrum.
- Ed Slater, Gloucester
A real dogged display from Slater, who carried strongly in the tight for Gloucester, as well as putting in a tireless shift in defence. Brought a physicality to the gain-line, both as a carrier and a tackler, rarely going backwards in the collision.
- Courtney Lawes, Northampton Saints
The Northampton and England lock was in fine form on Friday night, proving an immovable colossus in the defensive line. His energy and efficiency in the line helped stymie Harlequins’ offensive gameplan, which saw them retreat into an unthreatening one-out runner strategy, whilst he also made a significant impact at the lineout, both offensively and defensively.
- Don Armand, Exeter Chiefs
Armand put down yet another England marker on the weekend, adding some necessary grunt to the Chiefs pack in the middle of the pitch in a fast and free-flowing game against Wasps. His carrying stood out in particular, but he also shut down Wasps’ carriers on the gain-line multiple times, denying them the front-foot ball to unleash their fleet-footed backs in the subsequent phases.
- Sam Underhill, Bath
Run close by Heinrich Brüssow and Brendon O’Connor, Underhill was a jackhammer at the Rec on Saturday, levelling any ball-carriers that came anywhere close to him. He was difficult to shift at the contact area, too, and carried with purpose, not looking out of place among the more notable offensive threats of Zach Mercer and Taulupe Faletau.
- James Chisholm, Harlequins
Maybe the sole offensive bright spot for Quins in a game where Northampton’s defence shut them down and turned their offensive plan into a succession of one-out runners being fed by the scrum-half. Chisholm was the only Quins forward to have consistent success breaking the gain-line against Saints and the Londoners struggled to retain possession and get quick ball when it wasn’t Chisholm taking the ball up into contact.
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Comments on RugbyPass
Thanks for the lesson Nick! I presume that targeting gaps is situational because if a ball carrier straightens the line they can't be allowed a gap to run into? It feels like you need depth if you're going to pass it wide and plenty of variety - straight running, kicks just in behind, cross kicks etc. BTW what an incredible bench Toulouse had this week. People complain about Leinster being stacked but they need to be at the very highest level.
14 Go to comments2015 was by far the best team. They have had many good backlines over the years but the 2015 team was one of the few to have an absolute world class forward pack - all of them international quality. 6 ABs, 1 future English player, and one that would have gone on to ABs had he not been forced to retire due to concussion. This current team doesn’t have the same size and experience at lock, but providing they can keep this many talented young players (who have all significantly increased their profile this year) together for another 2 years they could eclipse the 2015 team.
2 Go to commentsAnd I’ve just seen RA has topped up the offer to Paisami and extended it beyond 3 years and he’s signed. Great news
64 Go to commentsInteresting watching Amaua starting to fire. No idea why he was pulled so early against the Reds.
3 Go to commentsNice to read something positive about Vunivalu; it doesn’t happen often. I despair for rugby in Oz. Unless some form of compensation for the teams producing players is devised, there is no obvious way for us to combat poachers coming to grab players in their prime with bigger pay cheques. A return to the SR crowds we were getting in 2010-2014 and a quadrupling of the TV deal would be a start but I don’t see how those things happen. Perhaps the government could be encouraged to deliver tax breaks like in Ireland?
64 Go to commentsI wasn’t aware that the blitz targeted space so, as usual, something learned from reading one of your articles, Nick. Watching the game live I attributed the Saints’ inaccuracy to their own mistakes and nerves. Perhaps some credit to the Leinster D.
14 Go to commentsGotta give it to you Graham, you support your players and team to the hilt. There may be strains of exaggeration laced throughout but gotta love the passionate parochialism.
2 Go to commentsNice one Nick. No doubt Vunivalu’s involvements and work rate are improving this year in attack, but I still think he is too raw on the defensive and backfield part of his game to be considered as a starter. Wales would just kick and run it to his side all night as the brumbies have done to good effect in the past. But, his size/power will keep him in the convo with Mark N leaving and Petaia’s injury record. Hunter definitely enjoying an injury-free run this season and being given the keys by Kiss - I have always been a fan of his. All I’d say is that his triple threat has been evident since 2020/21. I remember him making a grubber for a petaia try after the siren to beat the Brumbies in Canberra after the 80th minute in 2021. Lastly, Jock Campbell, who I know isn’t at the top of your list, I thought had alot of positive involvements in the saders game including both of Tim ryan’s tries and Mcreights
64 Go to commentsAg please, Pieter Stef Du Toit has played circles around this clown.
1 Go to commentsJust celebrating the Bok’s 1648th consecutive day as RWC champions. They are also the Qatar Airways Cup winners, which I know BennieBoy cares about a lot.
2 Go to commentsGood to here positive stories towards Aus Rugby. Although that might be the case, and highers up are right about Jordie, I wouldn’t stress trying to retain him. What I have seen of him in recent times is that he’s not using that something special. I feel there a better ‘something special’ options coming through that they won’t have to compete with league for, hell even in Kerevi and Paisami (isn’t it great to finally see his ability getting recognized, probably taking this article in isolation too much here).
64 Go to commentsgreat article! I wonder whether we will we see Ireland adopt the Nienaber blitz? All the teams who have tried it so far (SA included) have gone through significant teething problems in the first season; Ireland could possibly be in the unique position of being able to switch to a hard blitz in season 2 of a world cup cycle and already have so many players used to the system that it can be implemented seamlessly.
14 Go to commentsThey probably left another 20 on the field to be fair. Also - the officiating was… ordinary.
1 Go to commentsblackadder isnt a key player at all you cant say hes been the best player or a key all black when hes injured every week
3 Go to commentsThat loss to the Blues still stings! The Reds have fallen short in 4 of the 6 games decided by 7 points or fewer. Are they not fit enough to close out the close games or are there tactical issues when games go down to the wire? The pleasing thing is no Australian side can better the Reds record of 3 wins from 5 against Kiwi sides but the Brumbies can match it. Les Kiss has instilled a belief in the Reds that they can match it with all the New Zealand sides.
64 Go to commentsA potential 5th star for Leinster and redemption adter losing 2 tight finals against La Rochelle against Toulouse and the chance for Jacques Nienaber to have some success without Rassie Erasmus running the show.
14 Go to commentsThanks Nick, and welcome back 😁 Vulavalu does look better this year, and about time. I suspect Schmidt will knock the hubris out of him. That one handed put down was so embarrassing. Mind you, I had thought Kiss would deal with that. Leaving aside the different games and skills, in NRL he had a very good (but no bullshit) type of coach in Bellamy, something he hasn't had in Union until this year. Bellamy would have roasted him unmercifully for an unprofessional put down.
64 Go to commentsYou’d think the first step would be taking responsibility for the stupid sh*t you did and to stop blaming other people. Does he seriously think that people believe him when he says it just magically got into his system without him knowing anything about it? You’re gonna notice if you’re on the juice, bruh.
2 Go to commentsI watch the Reds now, and many of their players, and think back to watching London Irish in their last two years under Michael Kiss. I recall Nick Phipps looking a very competent scrumhalf, Rob Simmons a lynch pin in the lineouts. Both men writen off by many on the rugby sites. There is no question in my mind that Kiss has a very different touch to any coach the Reds have had in years. It will take time, but this team could develop into a very good team, hard to beat by any one down here in the SH. You highlight two players especially, Nick. Vunivalu and Paisami are thriving this year, especially the latter. And so many others. The now heavier Fraser McReight, his great mate Harry Wilson, and the “Fardy” man, Liam Wright. That is only three, ut in reality every player is acroos the whole squad is the better for the new regime.
64 Go to commentsRecord Score Downloading…………..
1 Go to comments