Harlequins

The topsy-turvy nature of the Premiership was again in evidence last weekend, as teams jostled for European places and playoffs—knowing that matches are running out.

The head-of-steam Harlequins looked to be building turned into a fog on Friday night as they were out-played and out-muscled by a Sale team already in last-chance saloon.

Harlequins sorely missed Nick Evans and Chris Malone, as they attempted to play most of the second half with two scrum halves, Gomarsall and Care, at nine and ten.

Sale were able to take control of the game and ease away from Quins, scoring their bonus point fourth try late in the day through Richard Wigglesworth to take it 28-6.

Harlequins retain a good shout for a home semi-final as a result of London Irish’s loss, away to Northampton, by 21–17. Northampton started the better side, but it was Irish who struck first, with Tagicakibau scooping up a loose pass and racing all the way to the line from within his own 22.

Northampton regrouped and produced some excellent rugby to score two tries and go into the break 21–8 ahead. Irish came back strongly in the second half, but ultimately were unable to breach the gap.

The win keeps Saints in prime position to secure seventh in the league and a Heineken Cup spot next season, while Irish need one more win to guarantee a playoff. Both Saints and Irish face tricky away fixtures against Sale and Worcester, respectively, to finish their seasons where they want to be.

After their epic Heineken Cup match last weekend, it was perhaps no surprise that both Leicester and Bath struggled to uninspiring away victories against Saracens and Newcastle, respectively.

Vesty again proved his worth to Leicester with a late penalty to take the win, Glen Jackson having hit the post moments earlier for Saracens—the match ending 16–13. The win sees Leicester as the only club to secure their playoff place going into the final round of matches. A losing bonus point will be enough next week to guarantee a home semi-final.

Newcastle raced into an early lead against Bath, playing rugby that confounded their league position, with tries from Danny Williams and Micky Young. The Newcastle scrum-half was at the centre of everything good about their play—and it’s no coincidence that his substitution coincided with Bath gaining ascendancy in the second half.

Butch James had another disastrous day with the boot, missing numerous kicks at goal. This meant Bath had to revert to tap penalties and kicks for the corner. James was replaced by Bradley Davis and although he was for the most part equally abject with the boot, Bath’s pressure told and they managed to come back to take it 15–14.

On Sunday, London Wasps finally managed a decent performance—no mean feat against a Bristol team with pride on the line in their final Premiership home fixture.

The halfback pairing of Joe Simpson and Danny Cipriani gave Wasps fans two reasons to be hopeful for next season with excellent performances—in particular the lightning-quick scrum half who scored another wonder solo-try. Bristol ended the match with two consolation tries, but Wasps took it 36–18.

Following on from Gloucester’s abject performance in the EDF Cup Final on Saturday, the Shed faithful must have thought things couldn’t get much worse.

Well, they could. Worcester strolled into Kingsholm on Tuesday night, battled it out round the fringes, exposed Gloucester’s soft underbelly yet again and took the spoils 13–6.

If Dean Ryan thought his stinging criticism following the Cup defeat would galvanise his troops he was mistaken. It looks likely now that Gloucester will miss the play-offs and end the season trophy-less. It will be very interesting to see how the club reacts and who will make the grade for next season from both the playing and coaching staff.

The beauty of the Premiership is again evident in the final week of the season, with every team bar the bottom two left with something to play for. Leicester can afford to rest their first team against Bristol at the weekend in preparation for the Heineken Cup and playoffs.

But all the other hopefuls will be going at it hammer and tongs in what should be a cracking end to the regular season.

With England struggling to find a decent performance and few in the elite squad displaying any form, it is interesting to have a look at the Premiership clubs and see what or who else is out there for Mr Johnson to think about for the next big tests in February.

Olly Morgan could soon be challenging for further England honours

Out of all the top clubs, Gloucester are hitting the form they hope will allow them to go into the New Year sitting near the head of the table. Of all their exciting backs it is he of the big chin, Olly Morgan, putting his hand up for extra recognition and he scored another try in their victory against Bristol.

Whether Ryan Lamb is worth a look on the international stage is debatable, he’s probably the only 10 with a worse defence than Cipriani, but he scored a full-house of points (try, conversion, penalty, drop goal) as Gloucester won 39-10.

In the most nail-biting match of the weekend, Northampton upheld their excellent unbeaten home record with a 28-all draw against Bath. Even with the internationals pilfering the top talent, both teams fielded some recognisable names—Spencer, Reihana, and Foden for Saints and James, Claasens and Grewcock for Bath.

Bath dominated the first half, Northampton the second and a draw was the fair result. The two points meant more for Northampton as they pulled clear of the bottom three whilst Bath lost a bit of ground to the chasing pack.

Worcester condemned Newcastle to another defeat as they beat them 26-11 in a game they never looked like losing. Taking a look at the try scorers for Worcester, Latham and Tuitupou, it becomes easy to see why Worcester are comfortably mid table at the moment and they should progress to a reasonable finish.

Newcastle on the other hand are in a bit more trouble, only three points above Bristol and one ahead of Wasps. Losing Ollie Phillips to the sevens circuit won’t help either.

Leicester halted Harlequins’ impressive progress with a comfortable victory at home by 27-14. Johne Murphy scored a try after just 76 seconds to set the tone and Harlequins never recovered.

Derick Hougaard is keeping the 10 shirt warm for Toby Flood and can take a lot of credit for this victory with three conversions, two penalties, and a try. Leicester jump above Quins to fourth place, with Sale also stealing ground on Dean Richards’ men to push them into sixth.

On Sunday, London Wasps continued their rotten run of form with an unlucky defeat at home to Sale by 13-12. Sale scored a converted try in the 78th minute to steal it at the death. Wasps tried to re-jig their back division to bring more penetration with Van Gisbergen at 12 and Lachlan Mitchell at 15 but it was to no avail as they could only score four penalties.

Youngster Tom Homer stole the headlines at the Madejski Stadium as he scored a brace of tries to steer London Irish to a victory over Saracens by 27-14. Steffon Armitage continued to match his bigger brother’s good form by taking the man of the match award ensuring that he’ll be one to watch for future progression in the England ranks.

Overall the quality of the Premiership has seen an inevitable dip while the internationals are on. The fact that the England boys will come back with a lot to prove should provide a necessary boost to the competition in December.

The Guinness Premiership is a wonderful thing - two full rounds within four or five days, and then nothing until November.

It plays havoc with your SuperBru predictions, and I was too late for the game last night between Gloucester and Newcastle. It’s annoying, since I would definitely have picked Gloucester by 16 and they won 39-23.

There are four games tonight and one more tomorrow, and then the EDF Energy Cup and Heineken Cup kick into action and steal the limelight for a few weeks.

Saracens visit Newcastle, London Irish play Sale, Leicester host Midlands rivals Northampton and Wasps face Bath in a repeat of one of the best games of last season.

Tomorrow night Harlequins tackle Worcester at Sixways as we put the first instalment of this year’s league season to bed.

I’ll publish my predictions later, but here’s a reminder to do yours if you aren’t already ahead of the game.

Sale are welcoming back a few familiar faces this week, in the shape of Rory Lamont, Sebastian Bruno, Andrew Sheridan, Richard Wigglesworth and Brent Cockbain. In contrast, Saracens are missing a few key personnel through injury, including Dave Seymour and Francisco Leonelli.

Friday nights at Edgeley Park are not the ideal circumstances for an Away win, particularly without your first choice openside, so I’ve gone for a big Home victory.

Gloucester will look to bounce back after their opening game defeat as they travel to The Rec to face Bath. Dean Ryan will have unleashed hell on his squad after succumbing to Leicester, and with the prospect of Olly Barkley making his debut against his former club, I’ve gone for a slightly controversial Away win.

Harlequins host Bristol in the first game of the season at The Stoop and should be too strong for the visitors after a confidence-boosting victory at Twickenham.

Leicester will look to continue their winning ways at Home to London Irish, and after their giant-killing exploits last week, surely the Exiles can’t make it two out of two?

Wasps are another team that will have incurred the wrath of a volatile coach - Shaun Edwards won’t have been pleased at last week’s effort, and Worcester will probably feel the backlash on Sunday at Adams Park.

I’ve also predicted further doom and gloom for Newcastle unfortunately, as the rejevunated Northampton visit the North East hoping to continue their strong start to their new life in the Premiership.

Two Away wins, four Home wins - what do you think?

Here are my SuperBru picks for Round 2:

Game 7: Sale Sharks v Saracens: Sale Sharks by 20

Game 8: Bath Rugby v Gloucester Rugby: Gloucester Rugby by 8

Game 9: Harlequins v Bristol Rugby: Harlequins by 13

Game 10: Leicester Tigers v London Irish: Leicester Tigers by 16

Game 11: London Wasps v Worcester Warriors: London Wasps by 24

Game 12: Newcastle Falcons v Northampton Saints: Northampton Saints by 9

Height: 1.80m (5′ 11”)

Weight: 84kg (13st 2 lbs)

Date of Birth: 14th August 1980 (age 28)

Birthplace: North Shore, New Zealand

Go on, how many of the less-informed out there assume Nick Evans, the new Harlequins fly-half (or first five-eighth), is just another Kiwi on a fat contract who, being too old and slow to cut it with the All Blacks anymore, takes his pension book to the Guinness Premiership post office? This could not be further from the truth.

Evans was born and raised on Auckland’s North Shore. He moved to Otago and joined the Highlanders, before returning last year to the Auckland Blues. At school, thanks to the influence of an Australian teacher, he took up Aussie Rules and was so good that he had to choose between that and rugby. Luckily for us, and especially the Quins fans out there, he chose rugby.

Evans has signed a three-year contract with Harlequins and when the history of the Premiership comes to be written, expect him to feature in the ‘Best overseas signings’ chapter.

Evans knows what it’s like to play the understudy. The world’s best No 10 Daniel Carter is unfortunately a New Zealander too and, to really rub it in, 18 months younger than Evans. Most would rage against the injustice. Some pundits, and you have to whisper this where Crusaders gather in the south island city of Christchurch, reckon Carter is only New Zealand’s second-best fly-half.

Evans (with 16 caps and a handful of appearances at the 2007 Rugby World Cup under his belt) having made his debut against England in Dunedin in 2004 at the age of 23, does not seem to play the embittered adversary:

“Dan Carter is the best in the world and I have never said otherwise. Yes, it is frustrating, but I have made the most of my chances and am very proud of what I have achieved for the All Blacks.”

So what are Evans’ strengths? He is quick. Very quick. He is a fine tactician and distributor, nails his goals and is strong in the tackle. New England scrum-half Danny Care is going to love playing inside him and Quins will certainly have the fastest half-back pairing in the Premiership—and certainly one of the most exciting.

This season promises to be a good one at The Stoop.