Aviva Premiership Rd 8 - “Sharks Sale to Victory”

Quins stay top and the Sharks break their duck…Felix McCabe has the rest…

Off-field drama was the backdrop at training this week in Manchester. Bryan Redpath was removed as Director of Rugby at Sale and reinstalled as head coach. Meanwhile, CEO Steve Diamond, appointed himself Director of Rugby. This commotion off the pitch would surely effect The Sharks on the pitch and leave them in a state of disarray. That is exactly what happened, at least initially, when Sale welcomed London Irish to the Salford City Stadium on Friday night. The visitors got on the front foot right from the off and within a minute were set up nicely in the Sharks' 22. Topsy Ojo, the man slicing through the defence, failed to spot the overlap and the move was extinguished. From here Sale used some solid set-piece work as a pedestal from which to launch their attack; and after a few minutes they forced a penalty which fullback, Nick Macleod, slotted over. The fullback wasn't finished there, with help from Danny Cipriani, Macleod touched down minutes later to bring the Sharks' lead to 8 points. It was Irish who looked like they were suffering a bout of bad form; hope kept alive with a Ian Humphreys penalty. The first five eighth made himself useful again when a perfectly timed pass allowed Samoan, Johnny Leota, breach a gap in the visitors defence and drive home another try. Cipriani would complete his contribution with the conversion, leaving the half-time score at 15 points to 3. The second half became a more scrappy affair, with the visitors looking stronger. A composed Sale side managed to defend their line and Cipriani sealed victory with his boot. Finally this reporter can proclaim that the Sharks have won! Here's hoping many more performances of that caliber are in store this season.

Saturday saw two of the Premiership's elite go head-to-head as Welford Road provided the battleground for Leicester and Northampton. The Saints sat this one out it would appear; managing to score only from the kicking tee. A lack of physicality, and with both teams losing a host of players to the England squad, this game never lived up to its derby status. The Saints lacked form to the extent that the Tigers were able to clinch victory despite fly-half, George Ford, missing five of his nine kicks. A second-half try from centre, Matt Smith (pic), was enough of a buffer for Leicester. Sandy Park saw plenty of action with the Exeter Chiefs and the Worcester Warriors on Saturday. A rather one-sided event; the Chiefs tallying 19 points before the Warriors could respond and at that point, it was too late. Last 10-minute tries from Hayden Thomas and Chris Budgen, with the fourth minute try from Gonzalo Camacho, saw the Chiefs sail to their second Premiership victory in three games and you'd expect them to beat London Irish in Round 9 after the Autumn internationals.

It took Stuart Lancaster a while to realise his mistake of not adding Freddie Burns to his initial England squad, but the call up came on Sunday after Burns put in another phenomenal performance for Gloucester against a tough Harlequins team. The fly-half would hit 7/7 on the day; six penalties and a conversion. The try scored by the other Cherry & White called up to the international squad, Billy Twelvetrees. Quins would win it 28-25 with tries from Mike Brown (released from camp for the weekend), Matt Hopper & Sam Smith. Nick Evans assumed kicking duties for the champions; showing why Quins offered him that new, three year contract. Gloucester's loss on the road means that they lose their record as the only Premiership side unbeaten away from home this season. Regardless, Nigel Davies' side are still well placed, at 4th on the table.

Sunday brought with it some fantastic rugby. Wasps would concede their four-match winning streak to the mighty boot of Charlie Hodgson. The veteran fly-half would score seven of his eight kicks; a contribution of 21 points of Sarries final total of 29. Nils Mordt would score one penalty whilst Hodgson was being seen to for a blood injury and Alistair Hargreaves would cross the whitewash for his side's only try. The South African suffered a unusual twist of fate; scoring, being sin-binned and eventually being carried off on a stretcher following a controversial challenge from James Haskell. The Londoners managed tries through scrum-half, Charlie Davies and a fantastic opener from Tom Varndell (pic); his seventh of the season.

Sunday's late game would have sent even the most devout rugby fans to sleep. It was a poor affair with both London Welsh and Bath at logger heads. Where Bath were more creative in the backs, their forwards struggled in the scrum and nothing was gelling together for them. Welsh managed early scores from the boot of Gavin Henson, but never looked likely to score. Ultimately, Stephen Donald's missed pass allowed Welsh's Nick Scott to claim glory and an un-deserved victory for the Exiles. A draw would have been a fairer result, but that's how this game goes sometimes.

Plenty to think about over the next few weeks and it will be interesting to see how our Premiership stars get on over the Autumn series. Congratulations again to Sale; let's hope they can keep the winning ball rolling and climb a few places on that table.

Results
Sale Sharks 21-9 London Irish
Leicester Tigers 16-12 Northampton Saints
Exeter Chiefs 33-9 Worcester Warriors
Harlequins 28-25 Gloucester Rugby
Saracens 29-24 London Wasps
London Welsh 16-9 Bath Rugby

Next Round

Friday, 23 November 2012

Bath v Harlequins, 19:45

Worcester v Saracens, 20:00

Saturday, 24 November 2012

Gloucester v Sale, 15:00

Northampton v London Welsh, 15:00

Sunday, 25 November 2012

London Irish v Exeter, 15:00

Wasps v Leicester, 15:00

Felix (@lightningrust): Blogger, eternal student of business & law, sunshine rugby player with a passion for music and fitness. Coffee is essential. Leinster fan and Irish proud.