Week 4 in the Prem and URC; Week 6 for the French
Derby weekend in the Gallagher Premiership adds a little spice to the regular season match-ups and the games this weekend did not disappoint. Leicester Tigers ground out a low-scoring win against Northampton Saints; Exeter’s young team scored 35 pts but lost to the tough and skillful Bristol Bears; Gloucester played some thrilling rugby but their 4 tries were comprehensively beaten by Bath’s 8; and in a tight game marred only by a terrible injury to Saracens flanker Onyeama-Christie, Harlequins beat the “other” London team for the first time in 4 years, 17-10. The results caused minor changes in the early-season leader board with Bristol moving to #1 after putting 6 tries past Exeter (total 21 in 4 games). Saracens loss drops them to #2 while Bath stay in 3rd after scoring 8 tries against Gloucester; Leicester Tigers dropped to 4th after a win, but no bonus point, over the Saints. The Northampton loss drops them to 7th in the table with Quins moving past them to 6th after their exciting win over Sarries.
Game 4 in the URC saw no change in the top 2 spots with Leinster beating Munster 26-12 and Glasgow over Zebre Parma 33-3. But two of the South African teams, still a game behind their European opponents due to a late start in the season, are doing well so far. Both the Lions and the Bulls are 3-0-0 and with 2 bonus points apiece move into 3rd and 4th spot, bumping Munster, Connacht and Cardiff all of whom lost at the weekend. (Note, however that the other 2 S. African teams, the Sharks and the Stormers both lost this weekend, to Benetton and Edinburgh respectively.) Glasgow, with a 3-0-1 record stays ahead of the S. African teams only because of their better bonus point tally. Leinster remain on top with a perfect record, 4-0-0 and 4 bps.
In France’s Top 14 it is understood that playing at home is a real advantage and this weekend’s results bear that out. Among the top 5 teams in the table, those who played at home won, and those who played away lost, as follows: #1 Union Bordeaux-Begles (HOME) beat Perpignan 66-12; #2 Stade Rochelais (AWAY) lost to Aviron Bayonnais 37-7; #3 Castres Olympique (AWAY) lost to Section Paloise 33-26; #4 RC Toulon (AWAY) lost to Racing ‘92 22-6; and #5 Stade Toulousain (HOME) beat Clermont 48-14. The effect on the table is thus: UB-B stay #1 with a 5-0-1 record and 23 points; Stade Toulousain move from joint #3 to #2, 4-0-2 and 20 pts; Stade Rochelais drop from #2 to #3 with 4-0-2 and 18 pts.
Note the Premiership and the URC have 2 more weekends of competition before the International break and will resume 11/29 France’s Top 14 has 3 more weekends and then a break, restarting on 11/29 also.
Streaming services for US viewers: Gallagher Premiership - therugbynetwork.com; URC and Top 14 - florugby.com