The season’s barely just begun but already Yarde is starting to look like the complete package and chances are, he’ll be among the top try scorers come the final whistle of 2013/14. He took two tries in great fashion on Saturday, including a 40m run-in, and his finishing is lethal. He’s a big lad who is hungry for the ball and England can do a lot worse than the 21 year old who has two international tries after just one cap against Argentina in June. With fans unimpressed with Chris Ashton’s international form, maybe Marland is the answer. A special mention to David Strettle who also scored twice at the weekend and now has 10 Premiership tries in his last 12 games.
What a difference a
week makes
After Sale’s surprise win at Gloucester last week and after
Newcastle were dominated at home by Bath, most people would have had money on
the Sharks being the victors when the two sides met on Friday night (including
this writer). So the shock of the round goes to the Falcons who just managed to
squeeze in a win, courtesy of four penalties by Phil Godman and one from Rory
Clegg. Unlike their match against Bath, Newcastle were equal to their opponents
upfront and managed to put the squeeze on them in the scrum, helping them to a
narrow 14-15 victory.
Wasps social media manager tweeted before the game against
Exeter that the ‘boys were having a Maxifuel Viper Electro drink pre and
post-match’, but it did a fat lot of good for the players as they lost out to
the Devon team 30-26. They have now failed to beat Exeter in their last six
games. Maybe you should stick to water and orange slices at half-time boys.
Saints are the team
for all seasons
After destroying Exeter last week with an impressive
attacking display on a firm pitch in dry weather, Northampton were then able to
beat Harlequins on Friday with a streetwise display in the wet. They kept the
ball in tight, sent in crash runners and used their strong scrum and rolling
mauls to full effect. Just two games into the season, they are by far the most
impressive team; they are structured and if they keep up this impressive form
whatever the weather, they have to be favourites for the title.
New scrum rules mean
new rules for props
Props were in the public eye quite a lot this weekend, most
notably Nick Wood for stamping on Jacques Burger, but fair play to the guy, he
looked distraught and couldn’t wait to apologise. Joe Marler was true to
himself and looked like he wanted to fight every man in a Saracens shirt, but
by far the biggest error by a prop this weekend was Davy Wilson. An error that
will have every old-school prop rolling in his grave or spitting out his ale.
An error that will ensure that every time Wilson props down this season, his
opposite man is going to have a dig at him. What is this dreadful error you
ask? Davy Wilson wore white boots. Need I say more?
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