Premiership: Five things we’ve learned as Leicester rumble on
Premiership clubs Saracens and Leicester completed demolition jobs, Bristol continued their struggle to match the highs of last season and Harlequins lost their first game. Worcester, meanwhile, cannot do anything but lose. Here’s five things we learned this weekend from the weekend’s Premiership action.
Sarries Rec Bath
Saracens’ English contingent put on a show for the onlooking national head coach Eddie Jones with a storming 71-17 win over lacklustre Bath on Sunday.
A Max Malins hat-trick helped Saracens on their way, along with tries from the likes of Jamie George and Maro Itoje – all of whom are expected to feature in the England squad Jones is due to announce this afternoon.
Questions will be asked of the West Country club’s coach Stuart Hooper, who’s struggling to get his very talented squad firing. With Bath fans seen leaving the Rec with a quarter of the match left, the club may very well need to make some big backroom calls.
What they do from here is uncertain, given they, like other teams, will lose stars to national squads, but for Saracens the status quo is the way to go.
Quins wounded by Sharks
Harlequins travelled to a Sale side who were ruing missed opportunities in recent weeks – and paid.
The Sharks bullied the defending champions up front and took their chances to come away 28-22 winners on Friday night.
Harlequins just couldn’t string any serious phase play together and returned to London with their first loss of the season.
This could be just the wake-up call Tabai Matson needed heading into a block of games during the Autumn Nations Series where his side could be missing some of their most influential players.
Their loss leaves Leicester as the sole unbeaten side after five rounds.
Bears in the woods
Bristol Bears appear to be stuck in the woods with little idea of which direction to take to escape.
Falling to a 13-5 defeat at Newcastle Falcons on Saturday, the Bears have now lost four of their five games and sit 11th in the table.
Struggling with any form of consistency across the match, Bristol looked lethargic throughout their performance: a long way off the glitz and glamour of last season’s delights.
In the off-season, head coach Pat Lam signed a deal keeping him at the club until 2028, one of the longest deals that club rugby has seen.
Will owner Stephen Lansdown be regretting that call come the end of the campaign?
Worcester’s rut
Worcester are in a real rut at the moment, having won just two of their last 26 games.
If you take away their opening-round triumph against London Irish, they have looked relatively uneasy in the Premiership this season.
They hosted Leicester Tigers and managed just the one score in their 3-48 defeat at the hands of the league leaders on Saturday.
Jonathan Thomas, the head coach, is trying to bed in a large cohort of incoming players but Worcester’s faithful are growing louder in their criticism of the club, and that won’t disappear until they start winning.
The Tiger Who Came To Tea
In the tale of the Tiger Who Came To Tea, the striped dinner guest turned up and ate everything on offer. Well, Leicester did that to Worcester on Saturday.
Unbeaten prior to their trip to Sixways, the Tigers rolled down the M5, completely demolished their opposition and then returned home.
Their win cemented their dominance at the top; they are seven points clear, albeit bearing in mind there are round byes this season.
They will be tested during the autumn but until then Leicester will be looking to make the most of their steamrolling start to the Premiership season.
Round 5 results
Sale Sharks 28-22 Harlequins
Newcastle Falcons 13-5 Bristol Bears
Wasps 23-27 Exeter Chiefs
Worcester Warriors 3-48 Leicester Tigers
Bath Rugby 17-71 Saracens
London Irish 25-25 Gloucester Rugby