Ackermann must find right blend
When Gloucester’s head coach, Johan Ackermann, was asked if his honeymoon was over after a second successive defeat, he replied that it had never started. The club remain the Premiership’s enigma, capable of defeating the champions one week and then folding against a team looking for their first win the next. Leicester were expected to start with fury after meekly succumbing to Northampton the week before but Gloucester were unprepared for the onslaught, conceding an early sucker try on their way to a 21-point deficit after 20 minutes. They played with intent and made a number of line breaks, but moves broke down because of a lack of familiarity, overambition and poor handling as a heavy penalty count against them prompted attacks from deep. The ingredients are there but over the years they have been thrown together to serve up an unappetising mix. Less will be more for Ackermann. Paul Rees
• Match report: Leicester 24-10 Gloucester
Speedy Solomona back in business
Denny Solomona’s try-scoring talents are hardly a secret but his double in a bonus-point win against London Irish on Friday night can be seen as timely nonetheless, considering there is an England training squad named on Friday. Those two tries take his tally for the season to three in three matches and while Eddie Jones will certainly not have forgotten his late-night antics at the previous camp in August, he has effectively said that Solomona’s misdemeanour would not automatically rule him out of the camp in Oxford. The New Zealand-born wing will have seen the form in which Semesa Rokoduguni has started the season, however, and while Solomona was one of three wingers named in August the versatile Elliot Daly comes back into the fold this time. Competition out wide is fierce but the Sale flyer can be safe in the knowledge that he is back doing what he does best. Gerard Meagher
Sublime Slade makes England case
The tussle for England’s No13 jersey is increasingly becoming one of the more intriguing aspects of the autumn, with the head coach, Eddie Jones, having already stated that he wants Henry Slade to focus on playing at outside‑centre. He did that to excellent effect as Exeter continued to reassert their authority, following their opening-night defeat, with a comfortable win at Worcester. Slade is the incumbent at outside-centre but Bath’s Todd Blackadder has been glowing in his praise of the start to the season made by Jonathan Joseph, who himself was usurped by Ben Te’o on the British & Irish Lions tour. Manu Tuilagi is no longer an option – even if Leicester’s diagnosis of 12 weeks for the type of injury he has feels like erring on the side of caution – but Elliot Daly may yet come into the No13 mix, too. Slade, however, will take some shifting on current form. GM
Bumpy season ahead for all clubs
So here is this season’s digested read to date: Saracens have thrashed Northampton who have subsequently beaten Leicester and Bath who beat Saracens who beat Newcastle who beat Sale who beat London Irish who beat Quins who have beaten Wasps as well as Gloucester who beat Exeter who beat Worcester ... all inside the first three weekends. Mixed in with Sunday’s scuffle between James Haskell and Joe Marler, not to mention the intriguing head-to-head between Danny Cipriani and Quins’ young fly-half Marcus Smith, it was another vivid illustration of the Premiership’s ever-fluctuating nature. As Dai Young, Wasps’ director of rugby, said afterwards: “This league is massively competitive and is going to be even more competitive than last season’s. Ourselves and Exeter only lost four or five games last season; I think the top two this time will do well to match that.” Robert Kitson
Mixed start for Pro14 in South Africa
Both optimism and an ominous warning for the Pro14 at the weekend with the first two matches staged in South Africa. Let’s start with the Southern Kings, who were outclassed by Leinster on a lifeless afternoon in Port Elizabeth. The official attendance given was 3,011 – much to the bemusement of those actually there who felt that, in reality, that was on the bullish side. Regardless of the exact number, however, the Mandela Bay stadium holds 46,000, so it was an eerie atmosphere indeed. Contrast that with the Cheetahs, who had the foresight to let in spectators for free and approximately 15,000 were treated to a 13-try feast. It was a glimpse of what may become of the new-look Pro14 in Bloemfontein after a harbinger of doom in Port Elizabeth. A mention too for Treviso, who won 20-17 at Richard Cockerill’s Edinburgh, for whom you feel a bruising Monday morning is in store. GM
• Match report: Southern Kings 10-31 Leinster
Sad Springboks outclassed again
When their former coach, Nick Mallett, says that criticising the Springboks following their 57-0 defeat in New Zealand would be like “clubbing a baby seal” it is clear that reports of the death of South African rugby may not have been quite so exaggerated after all. Results such as these will always raise the question of whether this was a show of New Zealand’s superiority or South Africa’s ineptitude. And as is so often the case, the answer is both. You got the feeling Steve Hansen, the New Zealand head coach, was enjoying the buildup to this match, talking of how his side are in transition. In truth, the All Blacks blew South Africa away in every facet – Aaron Smith, not enjoying the best of times off the field, was peerless at scrum‑half. The rematch is in Cape Town in early October and it will be catastrophic for the Boks if they play like baby seals again. GM
• Match report: New Zealand 57-0 South Africa
Tyrrells Premier 15s
The Tyrrells Premier 15s kicked off at the weekend with emphatic wins for Loughborough Lightning – at home against Worcester Valkyries – and for Gloucester Hartpury away against Darlington Mowden Park. Considering it was a first match for Gloucester Hartpury at this level – having won Championship Midlands Two last season – it is an impressive start to the campaign. The pick of the matches was at Wasps, where Harlequins, effectively last year’s champions then playing under the Aylesbury Bulls umbrella, edged a thrilling contest 38-32, with the visitors crossing for six tries – two each for Jess Breach and Holly Myers. It can be considered a promising start for the competition, with a large number of England’s World Cup contingent set to return in the coming weeks to add a little more international quality across the board. GM
