By Matt Hardy
The weekend’s Premiership action saw a battle at the top, a dominant West Country performance and major controversy. Here are four takeaways from the four matches in round eight.
Master versus apprentice
Yesterday’s match between Saracens and Sale Sharks had a multitude of storylines running through it. It was first versus second, the master – in Saracens’ director of rugby Mark McCall – and the apprentice – McCall’s former assistant Alex Sanderson, who is now at Sale Sharks – and it was the match where Alex Goode broke Saracens’ appearance record with his 339th run-out for the side.
But come the final whistle it was Saracens who remained unbeaten, with Sale the 33-22 losers.
Saracens showed their class and extended their lead at the summit of the table to 10 points while Sale met their match in north London. Samoan forward Theo McFarland was superb for the home side.
These two have had a storming start to this season and they’re the pace-setters, but it is Saracens who are cementing their place as Premiership favourites.
Cherry on the cake?
Every year seems to be described as Gloucester’s year; where there’s so much promise for the Cherry and Whites only for them to unravel and fade away.
But on Friday night they looked unstoppable in their 38-22 win over Exeter Chiefs. Before their latest encounter, the Chiefs had won five of their last six meetings against their fellow West Country club but Gloucester improved their end of that statistic under the Kingsholm lights.
Welsh wizard Louis Rees-Zammit was speedy as ever and Gloucester seemed to dominate throughout.
George Skivington’s men sit third in the league, having won four of their five matches, and have two games in hand on those around them in the table.
They will lose a number of internationals in the coming weeks and still need to play Premiership top-four rivals in Sale and Harlequins but the Cherry and Whites should be buoyed by their current form and building on their solid start will be paramount for any title challenge.
Saintly Fin
The situation at Worcester and Wasps has hit a lot of players hard; many remain unemployed while some have found new clubs.
Promising fly-half Fin Smith was picked up by Northampton Saints earlier this month, though the No10 was widely tipped to join the East Midlands club regardless.
The 20-year-old scored 13 points on debut as his side beat Bristol Bears 45-31 on Saturday.
Northampton have been challenging throughout the season but have struggled with performing for the entirety of any given match.
But on Saturday they looked much like the Saints who achieved a semi-final spot last season. Phil Dowson’s men have moved up to fifth but they’ve played more games than every other team around them.
Bristol on the other hand looked second best all afternoon. They remained eighth and struggled to find any consistency.
Officially screwed?
Rugby is a game that generally divides its supporters, pundits and players; decisions are often 50-50. But in Harlequins’ last-gasp 26-24 win against London Irish at the Stoop on Saturday, the majority thought the away side were hard done by.
As the clock went red an aerial challenge was dismissed by referee Craig Maxwell-Keys and the TMO agreed no action should be taken. Harlequins duly marched up the other end and won the match.
Replays showed it was the wrong call and had cost London Irish the match, but sport can be a cruel game and the Brentford club learned that on Saturday.
It was a superb return to action for England contender Alex Dombrandt, however, who had a stormer of a match in south-west London.
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