Moment of the Aviva Premiership weekend
Although the woeful British weather did its best to stop play our Aviva Premiership sides, and fans, pushed on regardless and Round 5 actually delivered some cracking matches.
This season Premiership Rugby’s partner Ricoh are encouraging fans to discuss and share the game changing moments with #ImagineChange and after each round TRU are going to review some of the key momentum shifters of the weekend.
On Friday night Franklin’s Gardens witnessed their pack press on again after their strong European performance against the Glasgow Warriors the week prior. The opening scrummage after 10 minutes set the tone for the evening. Greg Garner reset the scrummage twice however on the third occasion awarded a penalty to the home side deeming Paddy McAllister to have been the man ‘to come out and loose shape first’. The Saints’ pack pressed on from there, McAllister was substituted on twenty minutes, and throughout the night the set piece produced penalty after penalty that Stephen Myler slotted in challenging conditions.
At Twickenham Stadium Saracens delivered an imperious all around performance against the Worcester Warriors. Mark McCall’s side ran out at the home of English rugby unbeaten competitively since they were last there and sent out an ominous message out to all. After just 4 minutes Ben Spencer’s textbook dummy parted the Worcester defence with ease, he continued at pace and then skilfully chipped through. The man on the receiving end of the chip was Chris Ashton who turned on the afterburners and dully scored. The invention set the precedent for Saracens’ in attack and from that point on the designated home side looked comfortable and were relentless.
159 miles away at Sandy Park the Exeter Chiefs were made to work extremely hard to keep their sterling home record in tact and the match delivered Ben Kay’s moment of the round. Rob Baxter’s side were slow to get going with Harlequins dominating much of the first half however just before half-time Gareth Steenson's handling and Exeter's ability to get the ball wide quickly after the turnover led to James Short’s try. It was a crucial score that changed the outlook of the game for up until that point it looked like Harlequins would go in to the break with a lead and a strong wind behind them in the second half.
Finally on Sunday afternoon the Leicester Tigers hosted Bath Rugby and frustrated their visitors immensely. Bath enjoyed the perfect start, Kyle Eastmond broke through almost immediately following the kick-off and Niko Matawlu’s superb dummy put Matt Banahan into space who in turn released Anthony Watson for the opening score. Bath continued to dominate possession and looked to be en route for the second try after 30 minutes however Peter Betham thought otherwise. The outside centre read Nick Auterac’s final pass brilliantly and ran the length of the field to add 5 points for the home side. There was a discernible shift in mindset and momentum following that score which gave the Tigers an 11-5 lead at the break and boosted their belief that it was going to be their day and not the visitors’.
It should have been a round that delivered six low scoring affairs due to the impact of the ‘great’ British weather however our sides defied the conditions and produced a captivating round. As the moments above show matches can turn on a sixpence and they’ll be plenty more occurring in Round 6, the final round before Europe.
As a proud partner of Premiership Rugby, Ricoh is encouraging fans to share and discuss the game changing moments of the Aviva Premiership Rugby season using #ImagineChange. Fans that take part in the #ImagineChange conversations are in with the chance to win a Ricoh Theta S – the industry’s most advanced fully spherical portable camera that allows fans to get a 360 view of the game in one single shot. For more information visit: www.imagine.change.co.uk. Follow @ImagineChangeUK and Imagine Change UK on Facebook.
