Amidst the fanfare and excitement of that tournament about to commence in New Zealand, the small matter of both the Aviva Premiership and the newly named mouthful, RaboDirect Pro12 kicked off in earnest this past weekend. The early weeks of the season in a world cup year is always doubly filled with intrigue – can those teams not as depleted take advantage and get off to a good start? Will it be business as usual for the leading clubs from last season? How will the defending champions fare?
I will leave the RaboDirect Pro12 to one side for the moment and focus on the Premiership. There was plenty of chatter before the opening salvos suggesting that, largely, the status quo would remain for this season. Saracens, Northampton and Leicester would lead the pack and, ultimately, the rest were deemed to be fighting for that fourth spot and the other two Heineken Cup places. And who could argue with those predictions? Those clubs that struggled last season haven’t done anything drastic over the summer to suggest a sea change in the league standings and, in fact, a couple of clubs have had a complete overhaul across playing and coaching staff (Sale and Wasps). As such, there were bound to be some unknown quantities going into the first weekend of the season, and some big questions that needed answering.
And so to Saturday finally came around and the London Double Header sparked everything off. A stunning late summer day and the gleaming Twickenham turf promised adventure and excitement from four teams eager to attack and set an early marker for the season. Alas, it didn’t quite turn out that way. Granted, there was plenty of heart and strong defence but the thrusting attacking moments were rare.
Indeed, in the first game, Harlequins benefitted from a London Irish defensive system that appeared a little muddled, and slow in communication at best. The first try of the afternoon followed a midfield break, where Irish had left their loosehead prop with far too much space either side of him to defend for 3 or 4 phases. He should have shuffled in far quicker. If he had done so, the initial break may have been avoided. Quins, on the other hand, were lucky to survive as long as they did with 15 men on the pitch. Every time Irish made a break into the 22 and threatened quick ball, a penalty was invariably given away. Indeed, it wasn’t until the fourth such offence in the ‘red zone’ that referee Greg Garner deemed a warning was required. If we are to see quick ball and the attacking game taking precedence over defence, then referees will need to take far earlier action to deter this behaviour. The game petered out somewhat and was disrupted by a number of long stoppages, not least for the unfortunate Tom Guest who would’ve seen these 6 weeks as a great opportunity to get a run in the side with Nick Easter in New Zealand. Quins got the win that they just about deserved on the balance of having a slightly meaner defence. Irish certainly have some work to do to tighten things up and bed down some of those new signings. They will, however, always threaten with ball in hand and with greater communication in the defensive line will improve dramatically.
Onto the second game and one of the surprises of the weekend, where Wasps bloodied the nose of the champions, Saracens. In so doing, Saracens became the 9th of the last 11 champion clubs to lose on the opening day of their defence. This was, perhaps, more surprising than Exeter beating Leicester given Saracens have been left surprisingly replete with players during the world cup. Saracens began the defence of their title in much the same way as they won it in the first place. With the onus very much on keeping the game tight, executing a strong set piece and playing the game at the pace they want to play at, which is excruciatingly slow and less than pleasing on the eye, although it has been highly effective for the past 2 years. On Saturday, one of the cogs in their wheel experienced a fault. Steve Borthwick met his match in the lineout in Marco Wentzel. However, whilst that platform provided enough ball for Wasps to win the game, it doesn’t tell the whole story. Saracen’s game plan is focused on forcing the opposition into giving away penalties at the breakdown and kicking the ensuing points. Suffocate your opponents of possession and bore them into submission. The best way to combat this? Don’t give away penalties at the breakdown and force the team with the ball to think about what to do with it. It sounds easy, but the evidence suggests teams and coaches have struggled to grasp this. Wasps competed sparingly at the breakdown. Once a tackle was made, largely only one extra player was committed to the breakdown to try and win the ball. There was no need to slow the ball down as Saracens did it themselves. With so few committed, there was little risk of giving away penalties and there was a total blanket in defence, which was aggressive on the outside and dominant in the hit – all the things that Saracens had based their title on. Wasps still had to take their chances, which were fleeting. Excellent hands and a half break from Riki Flutey created enough space for Christian Wade and Tom Varndell finished marvellously from a turnover. With a more solid scrum (which will be left for a separate, more technical piece), Wasps will bother most sides in the Premiership this season. On the first outing, there certainly appears to be a renewed hunger in defence.
Amongst the other games, Leicester suffered a home defeat against Exeter – another sign that those Devon lads are here for the long term. They have a fine spine to their side and no one will relish going down to Sandy Park this season. A strong start to the season during the world cup could see them challenge for a Heineken Cup spot. Worcester got off to a good start on their return against a reconstructed Sale side whilst Northampton and Gloucester played out an enterprising exhibition of running rugby on Sunday afternoon. Northampton have added some fine squad men over the summer, not least the USA international, Samu Manoa – a superb athlete. Gloucester remain a thrilling proposition out wide, but could be stretched with injuries to their main men such as Alex Brown. The young Italian tight head, Dario Chistolini, looks like a stunning acquisition. Newcastle, the pundits’ favourite for the drop, suffered a concerning home defeat to Bath. Whilst the North East will continue to be a tough place to travel to on a cold Friday night in December, it looks like a long season beckons for the Falcons. Jimmy Gopperth’s fitness looks too important.
And so the season is up and running, and with it some surprising results again highlighting how tight the Premiership will be this year. There were some glimpses of attacking rugby that will give all the purists a glimmer of hope and let’s hope that the world cup period will unearth some stars for RWC2015.
So, Saracens have been left 'replete' with players. Do your research, only Leicester have more players at the RWC - there are more countries taking part other than England.
ReplyDeleteYes. As you will see below, we have covered more than just England... ;-)
ReplyDeleteWhilst on a sheer numbers game, Sarries have lost a number of players, it's not quite that straightforward. As much as I would love it to be so.
Sarries are lucky to have such a large squad. Any other Premiership side would've killed to be able to name the starting line-up at Twickenham. It should've been good enough to win.
Despite the absence of Wyles, Smith, Burger, Stevens, Wigglesworth, Smit et al, the recruitment process to add depth to the squad has been extremely good. Therefore, they have more players with first team experience available to them and are therefore 'replete'. Sorry for the confusion.