Premiership clubs are swelled this weekend by the return of their international players, most of whom are thrust straight back into action in a season when the battle to avoid relegation looks like overshadowing the race for the top.
Nathan Earle’s double helps Harlequins stun Premiership leaders Exeter
Exeter and Saracens have built up such a commanding lead over the rest that they supply five of the six England players who will enjoy a break this weekend having been involved against Australia: Worcester’s Ben Te’o is the other. That contrasts with Scotland where Edinburgh and Glasgow are resting their international contingent while most of the Ireland team that defeated New Zealand two weeks ago will get a second weekend off having missed last Saturday’s romp against the USA.
Indeed, only Saracens and Exeter are free from the threat of relegation eight rounds in. Wasps are third but they are closer to the bottom than the top and Gloucester in fifth are the only other side in the table to have won more matches than they have lost. The leading two have won 16 matches between them compared to the other 10’s 32. “Saracens and Exeter are setting the pace and you have to be at your very best to beat them,” said the Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, whose team is at Allianz Park on Saturday. “It is hugely competitive between the other 10 teams and while we are in a good position now, the Premiership is so tight below the top two that two or three defeats on the spin can leave you close to the bottom. It is a season when no one has a clue who is going to go down.”
Young is fielding all five of his players who were involved in internationals last weekend: England’s Elliot Daly, Nathan Hughes and Brad Shields, South Africa’s Willie le Roux and Italy’s Michele Campagnaro, who will make his club debut after joining from Exeter. “I don’t have any choice given the number of players we have out injured,” said Young, “but such is the nature of the league now that you need your strongest available team every match.
“What it means is that this season a team of undoubted Premiership quality is going to go down, assuming the club coming up meets the entry criteria. I have always supported promotion and relegation, being a romantic at heart, but there is going to come a point when that becomes more of a business decision than a rugby one.
“Every club has to rest their England players in one of the next three rounds under the agreement with Twickenham, but sides in the Pro 14 can take a longer-term view because their status is guaranteed. Everyone understands that players have to be looked after, but following Saracens for us is a European double-header with Toulouse. Field a weakened team and we will have our trousers pulled down. The reality is that every week matters and the salary cap means you have to limit your squad numbers.”
Exeter’s head coach Rob Baxter takes the view that by resting players now, and he has given the Wales tight-head prop Tomas Francis the weekend off as well as his four-strong England contingent, they will be in a better position to keep performing at the end of the season. The Chiefs’ strong start to the campaign helps him but despite having piled up 142 points on their previous three Premiership visits to the Stoop, they tasted their first defeat of the season on Friday night.
Leicester’s four England players will start at Bristol with the Tigers only seven points above Newcastle at the bottom and 20 behind Saracens and 22 behind Exeter. A club that until recently made the play-offs every season has a different kind of scrap on its hands: they start the round in sixth place, but defeat to the Bears and other results going against them could drop them to ninth or even 10th with the halfway point two rounds away.
Mario Ledesma has one eye on World Cup as coach bloods new Pumas | Andy Bull
Bristol and Leicester have the worst defensive records in the Premiership. The Tigers are conceding an average of 4.5 tries a game, the same as the Bears. “Our defence has not been great,” said their interim head coach, Geordan Murphy. “But we took a step in the right direction against Saracens last weekend. But we took a step in the right direction against Saracens last weekend. Bristol will look to take us on and they like to attack from everywhere.”
Newcastle made the play-offs last season but they are two points below Bristol at the bottom. They travel to Northampton, who are ninth in the table, having won the last five league meetings between the sides, including two at Franklin’s Gardens.
Both clubs have called on their international players and Dylan Hartley will make his 250th appearance for the Saints.
“Exeter and Saracens are where they are because of the continuity they have had in their playing squad and management in recent seasons,” said Young. “It is the time of year when you are trying to tie players down to new contracts or bring in fresh faces, but no one from Saracens ever comes on the market. We will have a really good crack at Sarries. We know that only our all will do.”