Saracens will be a formidable barrier but Rob Baxter’s team are capable of overturning last year’s final outcomeIt is easy to see why so many people think this year’s Premiership trophy is destined to remain in north London. Saracens, the holders, are already champions of Europe, are oozing class and were comfortably too good for Exeter in last year’s final. Even when they embark on three-day benders before big games they emerge victorious.There is also the recurring question of whether Exeter’s relentless power game is quite as irresistible when it slams into an impenetrable defensive wall and the Chiefs’ primary instrument of control is blunted. Related: Exeter into final after Tom O’Flaherty’s solo try lights up win over Northampton Related:...
The Premiership’s top two sides are the clubs with the lowest player turnover and show how continuity breeds consistencyDavid Young was reflecting on Wasps’ fitful season after their victory against Harlequins last Saturday. It was his side’s fifth victory at home in 16 matches in all competitions this season and they finished eighth in the table, down from third the previous season and first in 2016-17.“The squad I have put together for five seasons has pretty much run its course,” he said. “It’s time to press the reset button and go again.” And so it will be another close season of new faces at the Ricoh Arena, 15 players in, including seven from the club’s academy, and 15 out. No...
With community a core value, it is about more than rugby for the kings of Europe and now Premiership play-off contendersWhen Saracens played their first European Cup final, against Toulon in 2014, it was a meeting of two clubs who had approached the venue in Cardiff from opposite directions. The French club, owned by the impatient Mourad Boudjellal, aimed to buy success, recruiting players, many of them World Cup winners, from around the world; the Premiership side, encumbered by a less generous salary cap, looked to build something lasting.Toulon’s approach yielded three consecutive European Cups and a Top 14 title but five years on only two of the players involved in the 23-6 victory are still with the club. In...
Piers O’Conor and Mat Protheroe step up for Bristol, Newcastle left down and out while leaky Leicester require urgent repairsA third Premiership try of the season for Charles Piutau against Sale on Friday night, in what was his ninth league start of the campaign, was not enough to secure the win for Bristol. He has been blighted by injury throughout the season, and is obviously not alone in that, but while Bristol will have hoped for more game-time from their marquee signing, it is to their credit that they have enjoyed such a prosperous return to the Premiership having been denied his services for long parts of the campaign. In his place the youngsters Piers O’Conor and Mat Protheroe stepped...
Paul Gustard and Chris Boyd have managed to turn two ailing Premiership clubs around this season – Leicester, take noteWhen I look at Northampton and Harlequins I see two teams at the same stage of their journey. Both were coming to the end of dreadful seasons a year ago, going on to finish ninth and 10th respectively, but both came into the weekend on the same number of points and vying with each other for the last play-off spot. The common denominator is the impact their new coaches have made.If you were to look at the squads Chris Boyd and Paul Gustard inherited, you might wonder what they were doing at the bottom of the table this time last year...