1) Saracens won’t be daunted by Toulon test
Saracens will begin the defence of their European title this week with every reason to be cheerful. Toulon may not have lost a European Cup tie on home turf but they will have to dig particularly deep to crack the toughest current challenge on the continent. Sarries have conceded just four tries in their six Premiership games, remarkable even by their standards and even more impressive given the absence of key backline figures such as Owen Farrell, Alex Goode, Duncan Taylor and Chris Ashton. “We put them under a lot of pressure,” said a delighted Mark McCall, after watching his side complete their bonus point win over Wasps at Allianz Park. “For us to have played the first six league games and won five without Owen, Duncan and, latterly, Alex and Chris is a good achievement. I don’t think Toulon have ever lost a European Cup match at home so it’s a good challenge for us but, regardless of that, we’ve got to fight and scrap for everything.” Robert Kitson
2) Jones shows true colours with ink now dry
Eddie Jones was at the Stoop before going over the road to spy on Argentina and Australia before England’s fixtures against them in the autumn series at the end of a week when he had, for the first time, not just ruffled Premiership feathers but plucked a good few. The December date with the Wallabies will mark Jones’s first anniversary as England’s head coach, and while in the first part of his reign, he was respectful to the clubs he has, since the signing of the new agreement between Premiership Rugby and Twickenham, become more critical and analytical. There would have been little in a match between two clubs in the bottom half of the table to enthuse him. It was high on energy but low on skill with Northampton again struggling to make an impression against opponents who did not miss many first-up tackles. They were especially wasteful on turnover possession, and while Jones has been criticised by the clubs for beasting his England players at a training camp in Brighton last week, he does not appear to see the Premiership as a vehicle to close the gap on New Zealand. Now that the deal is secure in a filing cabinet, a coach renowned for his single-mindedness is likely to become more and more spiky. The club and international worlds will collide with greater frequency. Paul Rees
- Match report: Harlequins 20-9 Northampton
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Picamoles beefs up Northampton for French test against Montpellier
3) Bristol playing catch-up by half-time too often
To play the perfect 80 minutes is the quest of every team. And it never ends, because nobody has managed it. Still, Bristol’s quest has further to go than most. All teams struggle to maintain intensity for a full match, and success is often determined by the degree to which they limit the damage in those off periods. Bristol are being killed by theirs. The temptation is to tut and ask why they didn’t play in the first half, say, the way they did in the second, as if they had wilfully chosen not to. When the score reads 19-0 at the break, as it did here, the dynamic of a match changes. However much the winning side demand of each other that they maintain intensity, they know they have that cushion, which creates just a little space for the losing side to mount a comeback, if they have the requisite spirit. It’s not looking good for Bristol, seven points adrift of the rest, but the good news is that they seem to have that spirit. Also, they have gathered away bonus points against teams they might consider within reach and have not yet played any at home. The bad news is that to be so often beaten in the first half, when everything is equal, hints at a simple deficit in ability. Michael Aylwin
4) Blackadder’s plan gives Bath more belief
The irony of Bath’s convincing 30-3 victory on Friday night was that they will be playing only in the European Challenge Cup this weekend while the Sharks mix it with the big fish in the Champions’ Cup. Sale will not progress very far if they are as one-paced as they were at the Rec and Steve Diamond’s non-appearance at the post-match press conference told its own story. The abiding memory of the evening, though, was the fresh belief visible within Bath ranks, for which their new director of rugby, Todd Blackadder, deserves much credit. Blackadder clearly has a keen rugby brain and a half-decent plan - if he had a different surname it would be permissible to use the word cunning - but his humility is his most striking quality. Bath are enjoying their rugby again and the difference that makes is enormous. RK
5) Tait’s injury-free run testament to the Tigers
Richard Cockerill’s assertion after his side’s comfortable win over Worcester that Leicester have been dealing with players returning from international duty injured for 20 years, when asked about England’s recent training camp, struck a chord. “They come back injured and we look after them,” was his matter of fact statement and while Mathew Tait has not played for England since arriving at Welford Road in 2011, the Tigers’ have most certainly looked after him, restoring him to long-term fitness after a remarkable run of injuries. Before those injuries deprived him of that extra yard of pace Tait was one of those players worth the admission fee. Some speedsters thunder across the turf, Tait glided with effortless grace and he has reinvented himself as the most reliable of Leicester players, at either full-back or inside-centre. He made 26 appearances last season and has played every minute of this campaign, impressing against Worcester with sharp hands, leaving the fireworks to Tonga’s Telusa Veainu but showing just a glimpse or two of that ability to glide. Long may it continue. Gerard Meagher
6) England not to blame for injury spate
Exeter’s head coach, Rob Baxter, is not a happy man. Never mind that his side were poor in drawing with out-of-form Gloucester: Jack Nowell, one of the Devonians’ key players, joined Anthony Watson and Sam Jones on the list of England injuries. However while Baxter’s ire may be justified, its target might not be. Shortly before kick-off, Billy Burns and Gareth Evans joined Henry Purdy and John Afoa in Gloucester’s ranks of the injured – in the same week in which their former prop and record appearance maker Nick Wood was forced to retire through injury. None of these, you might have noticed, was probably on Jones’s radar. Manu Tuilagi, Dylan Hartley, Owen Farrell ... the list of this Premiership casualties is far too long to be exhaustive in a brief talking point. “England seemed to have loaded him more than we would have done,” said Baxter of Nowell, while Saracens’ Mark McCall said earlier in the week that he was flabbergasted that England arranged a camp less than two weeks before the start of the Champions Cup. The evidence suggests though, Rob and Mark, that it is those above Jones and away from the England team that have more to answer for. Dan Lucas
- Match report: Exeter 27-27 Gloucester
- Exeter’s Baxter slams England training camp after Nowell injury
7) Could Leinster provide a strong Irish challenge in the Champions Cup?
This season’s Champions Cup could do with a strong Irish challenger and Leinster definitely look a team on the up. Not everything they did came off in a high-intensity 25-14 victory against Munster but there was enough promise from their young centre Garry Ringrose and scrum-half Luke McGrath to hint at brighter times ahead. Johnny Sexton also looks to be in a better place fitness-wise and they share the same pool as Northampton, currently flattering to deceive in the Premiership. It was interesting, too, to see Stuart Lancaster laying down the law in the dressing room at half-time while Leo Cullen, the director of rugby, stood silently beside him. Lancaster has an excellent record when it comes to developing young talent and England’s loss may yet turn out to be Irish rugby’s gain. RK
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