Harlequins’ sick list grows, Wasps’ Thomas Young looks to land of his father’s, Rob Baxter’s Exeter side pass ‘character test’ and Gloucester get one over BathJohn Kingston paused as he mulled over whether to put a precise figure on the list of unavailable Harlequins players for this match. Twenty-eight. How many of those would be anywhere near the first team is difficult to discern but, regardless, it feels an astonishing number. The guy subbing the report that included the figure had to ring to double-check it was not a mistake. Whether this tells us anything new about the nature of rugby today will be debated long and hard. As will whether Marland Yarde was included in the 28. It looks...
Fly-halves are becoming an endangered species, Matt Toomua’s upswing continues apace and Jim Mallinder has a tough decision to makeIt has taken a series of injuries to highlight it, but there would appear to be a paucity of fly-halves in England at present. Bath have a headache there with Rhys Priestland injured and Freddie Burns almost certainly suspended following his red card in his first start for his home-town club against Worcester. Wasps, meanwhile, had to move Rob Miller in from full-back, with both Jimmy Gopperth and Danny Cipriani injured, and Dai Young admitted that finding anyone available to bring in at short notice would not be easy. The growing injury rate is alarming but if it is indeed down...
Matt O’Connor’s Tigers are evolving fast, Bath’s fledglings offer hope for the country and Quins’ Kyle Sinckler is at the mercy of the law bookThe Tigers are changing their stripes. A side which for years built its foundation on set-pieces, an all-enveloping back row, controlling half-backs and immovable defence has evolved into one that can thrive on less than 50% possession. The midfield partnership of George Ford and Matt Toomua allows Leicester to react quickly in broken play and, after all the upheaval of the last few seasons, continuity has been a theme this season. Five rounds into the Premiership the director of rugby, Matt O’Connor, has made just one change in his back line, and that was enforced when...
HIA’s in the limelight again, Saracens suffer injuries, Jonathan Joseph facing Ben Te’o challenge for England place, and Eddie Jones has a back-row dilemmaFor the second Friday night in a row, a team has been reduced to 14 players after incurring a head injury, having already emptied their bench. Ten days ago it was Bath then it was Gloucester this time and while the Cherry & Whites claimed a second win of the season, they had to withstand considerable pressure from Worcester to do so. The issue was that Tom Savage suffered a head blow deemed serious enough that he had to be taken off permanently rather than for a head injury assessment and as a result, Ed Slater could...
Bath should give England’s Eddie Jones food for thought, Northampton respond after being labelled soft and Newcastle command attentionThe Premiership is an unforgiving place for teams who start slowly. Bottom-placed Worcester have lost their opening two games and injuries are already beginning to bite. Losing their strongest scrummager, Nick Schonert, to a suspected broken ankle is a major blow and the Warriors are down to two fit fly-halves with the league season barely a fortnight old. To compound matters, England’s Ben Te’o has an ongoing arm problem which has forced him off prematurely in both his team’s games to date. “He’s got a plate in it and it’s sore,” said Gary Gold, Worcester’s director of rugby. “Every time he gets...