Premiership talking points: Saints revived, Irish draw and the race is on
It’s starting to feel like the beginning of the run-in to this year’s Premiership rugby season. There are less than 10 rounds to go but there are so many storylines to follow. Here are our talking points from the weekend.
Luck of the draw
The league saw its fifth draw of the season at the weekend, when London Irish and Sale went toe to toe in Manchester. The 27-27 result was Irish’s fourth draw this season, an exceptional statistic for rugby.
Furthermore, when the sides last met, in September, they drew 31-31.
Those draws have allowed Irish to slowly build points when losing sides would be dropping them and, as a result, they finish the weekend in fifth, just two points off the top four. Granted, this is an extremely close race but they’re in with a shout as we reach the business end of the season.
Saints revived
Though they fell to a 34-31 defeat at the hands of Exeter Chiefs yesterday, Northampton Saints started to play close to their potential.
Scintillating line breaks and a highly dominant scrum pushed Saints forward in one of the standout matches of the season thus far.
Exeter, though, had the nous to see the game out – something they did last week against Newcastle.
The result keeps the middle pack tight in the league, but it’s great to see Saints back playing in a style that makes Franklin’s Gardens such a formidable place to visit.
Gloucester in tumble town
It hasn’t all been their own doing and they’re by no means playing badly but in just two weeks Gloucester have gone from third to sixth in the league, dropping out of the top four for the first time since round 11 in December.
The Cherry and Whites fell to Exeter two weeks back, had a bye week in round 17 and lost 35-23 to Leicester Tigers on Saturday.
That scoreline, combined with the favourable results for other teams, means their match against Saints this Saturday has become pivotal in their hunt for the play-offs.
Premiership on your marks…
There are eight sides separated by 12 points in the race for the three play-off spots behind Leicester Tigers – who remain well clear.
The Tigers are out in front on 74 points but Saracens in second, on 54, all the way down to Northampton in ninth, on 42, are in with a shot of reaching the end-of-season showpiece matches.
It is testament, in part, to a salary cap everyone can seemingly afford at the moment, and the quality and level of cohesion clubs are able to generate.
It would be a brave individual to bet on the exact order of the top four right now.