Premiership 1st Block done; the Autumn Internationals draw near
The first block of 6 games in England’s Premiership is complete and the teams you might expect to be high on the leaderboard are there, bar one. Bath are on top with a 5-0-1 record and 25 pts, followed by Leicester Tigers, also at 5-0-1 but with 1 less bonus point, and the Bristol Bears, 4-0-2 but 8 bps. All 3 moved up 1 rung from the previous week. Saracens, top of the table after Week 5 fell 3 spots to 4th after losing at home to the Tigers in a squeaker 29-32. Bath’s move to top spot came after a 6 try victory over Sale, now 8th in the table. The Bears beat the Saints 31-23, the loss away from home pushing last year’s champs to 7th. Gloucester (36-7 over Newcastle) and Harlequins (19-36 at Exeter) both had bonus point wins and moved to 6th and 5th respectively.
With the international break upon us, the next Premiership match features Harlequins at home to Bristol on Friday, November 29, which, given the rate of try-scoring currently (37 just last weekend) should be a feast for fans of imaginative, attacking rugby.
The Autumn Internationals kick off next Saturday (November 2) with England at home to the All Blacks. England’s fans will be keen to see if the attacking flair shown in the latter stage of the 2024 Six Nations will be continued against a side which while still ranked #3 in the world, has fallen slightly from its peak. The slew of top flight matches taking place in November will have an impact on the rankings, which are currently: Ireland #1; South Africa #2; New Zealand #3; France #4; England #5; Argentina #6; Scotland #7; Italy #8; Fiji #9; and Australia #10. All of these teams are playing internationals during November although arguably, the Irish and English schedules are the toughest.
Many of these internationals are being streamed on Peacock, starting with England/NZ on Saturday at 8:00 AM Pacific.
In the United Rugby Championship (URC), Leinster continue to lead with an unblemished record 6-0-0 which with 5 bps gives them a 6 point lead over Glasgow Warriors on 23 with a 4-0-2 record and 7 bonus pts. Still a game behind, 2 of the South African teams, the Vodacom Bulls and the Emirates Lions are 3rd and 4th with 4-0-1 records and just 3 and 2 bonus points respectively. Like the Premiership, the URC clubs have the month off, restarting on November 29 although some of the top clubs will have plenty of players away on international duty. The demands of international rugby for teams like England, Ireland, and South Africa could well have a negative effect on clubs in both Premiership and URC when they start their club campaign again at the end of the month.
In France after 8 rounds of Top 14 action and with 1 more to go before their international “break”, the top 6 clubs are largely the same although 3 lost away from home and slid slightly in the rankings. Last year’s champions, Stade Toulousain are on top with a 6-0-2 record and 29 pts including 5 bonus pts; runners-up Union Bordeaux-Begles are second with a 6-0-2 record and 4 bonus pts. Aviron Bayonnais, 3rd in the table were the only major club to win away last weekend (an unusual event in France) beating LOU Rugby 38-49. Stade Rochelais, RC Toulon and ASM Clermont all lost away and slid to 4th, 5th and 6th respectively.