The Prem talking points from this weekend tell a very different story from the free-flowing rugby seen earlier this season. Across five games there were only 21 tries, bad weather changed how teams played, and yet the drama never dried up.
Prem rugby (Credits: BBC Sport)
Prem Talking Points: Leicester Tigers Win the East Midlands Derby
The contrast with recent weeks was striking. A fortnight earlier, a single game between Northampton and Bath produced 18 tries on its own. This weekend, the whole round managed just three more than that, as rain and heavy conditions forced teams to lean on set pieces, kicking and defence rather than open, running rugby.
Nowhere was that clearer than in the East Midlands derby on Saturday. Leicester Tigers produced a second-half display built on forward power and a brutal set piece, the kind of performance that shakes the old ground and delights a home crowd. In front of a febrile sell-out crowd, the game was played right on the edge, with a major scuffle breaking out just before half-time involving England team-mates Henry Pollock and Ollie Chessum.
Leicester and England scrum-half Jack van Poortvliet later explained the mood in simple terms: the fixture always carries heat, both sides put their hearts into it, and sometimes it boils over. Afterwards, he said, players go for a beer and laugh about it. That is rugby, he argued — fierce on the pitch, friendly off it. Thirteen of those involved in the derby even met for dinner in the England camp on Sunday.
For Northampton, the defeat is a warning rather than a disaster. They remain champions and the team to beat, but this was the second time in six months that Leicester have taught them a lesson at Mattioli Woods Welford Road. Saints fans can take comfort from the fact that titles are decided in May and June, yet boss Phil Dowson will still want his side to be as effective in the wet as they are in the dry.
Gloucester Beat Bath as the Real Deal Emerges
The other headline act of the weekend came at Kingsholm, where Gloucester beat bitter rivals Bath on Friday night. After an opening-round win at Exeter, a humiliation of Harlequins and a Champions Cup draw with Bordeaux, this was arguably even better for the Cherry and Whites.
Gloucester were tough up front and lively out wide, with centre Will Joseph rewarded with an England recall and Wales talisman Jac Morgan described as the signing of the season so far. Their defence held firm against a Bath first-half onslaught, and the atmosphere was described as the best at Kingsholm in years.
Gloucester boss George Skivington said that if supporters did not believe in the team after the past two weeks, he did not know what else could convince them. That confidence feels earned: this was not a lucky win, but a complete performance against strong opposition.
Put together, the weekend showed a different side of the Prem. It was not pretty, and it was not high-scoring, but it was intense, physical and full of talking points — from derby scuffles to a genuine contender emerging at Kingsholm.
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Source: BBC Sport — read the full story there.
