1) Wasps’ Jones flies on to England radar
If table-topping Wasps maintain their current league average by sticking 40 points on second-placed Saracens this weekend, they really will establish themselves as the team to catch this season. England will also take notice, particularly if Sam Jones and Nathan Hughes enjoy themselves against Billy Vunipola and co as much as they did against a second-best Harlequins side. Wasps’ director of rugby, Dai Young, compares Jones, 24, to a young Richard Hill and believes he could fill the openside flanker role if required in the autumn internationals: “He could do the job that [James Haskell] does well … he’s going to get off the line, be very destructive with his tackles and be very aggressive at the tackle area. Sam has all the ability to fit into that role without a shadow of a doubt. But I don’t want to attempt to pick Eddie Jones’s team for him. That’ll just get people’s goat up. I know I’d be a little bit annoyed if he started picking my team.” Robert Kitson
2) Friendly Leicester edge nearer to crisis point
Are Leicester in crisis? It’s difficult to know any more. They’ve won nothing for the last three seasons, which should mean they are, but crisis is not quite the same as drought. And one man’s drought is another’s doing all right, thank you very much. They haven’t missed a play-off since practically the dawn of play-offs, they are scoring some wonderful tries, and three wins from five is a respectable return from the opening few weeks of this season. They have also developed a certain flair in attack, which makes them pleasing to watch. Welford Road is still by far the best-attended ground in the Premiership. And Richard Cockerill was really quite friendly at the end of a third concession of 30 points already this season. In fact, they’ve become quite a friendly lot all round. And that, down Welford Road way, probably does represent a crisis. Michael Aylwin
3) Will Jones ever come calling at Newcastle?
It might have resonated more had Newcastle managed to eke out a third win of the season at Worcester but when Dean Richards spoke of his disappointment that no members of his squad were selected in England’s latest EPS, it was not out of blind loyalty to his players. The flankers Mark Wilson and Will Welch are not helped by the depth of back-row options available to Eddie Jones and Richards was happy to acknowledge that they, along with the full-back Simon Hammersley, simply may not fit the mould. But equally there is not a great deal between that trio and other members of the inflated England squad, now 45-strong. “They might be looking for something totally different but [Mark, Will and Simon] are performing well in a side that’s actually doing all right at the moment,” said Richards. “It’s disappointing they’re not in the EPS, I thought Mark would be in, I thought at least two of them would be in.” Wilson, again excellent at Sixways, can perhaps consider himself the most unlucky to be overlooked but no one would accuse Jones of not being thorough in his quest to identify the players best equipped to lift the 2019 World Cup. But as Richards added with an air of resignation when confirming that neither he nor his coaches had heard from Jones, “it’s a long way up to Newcastle”. Gerard Meagher
4) Is Gloucester’s pitch working against them?
Gloucester have changed their playing style this season but not their fickleness. A torrential downpour before the match made the playing surface heavy and handling hazardous, and they may need to consider joining the clubs who have invested in artificial playing surfaces, especially given their preference for a high tempo game. After the opening five rounds, they have lost all three matches at Kingsholm but are unbeaten on the road, although the latter record will be tested when they visit Exeter in the next round. Despite its reconstruction, Kingsholm remains a quintessential rugby ground, spectators hugging the pitch and making themselves heard, but as matches in the Premiership speed up, so attention is paid to pitches. Clubs with artificial ones are able to hire them out all year round and as the debate about the optimum level of the salary cap goes on, there should be provision for facilities built in to revenue increases. The lament is that increased income is spent on the wages of players and coaches, leaving little for investment. Gloucester should make their pitch. Paul Rees
5) North is heading in right direction
Last season George North admitted that he wasn’t enjoying his rugby at Northampton. If you watched the Saints last season, you will surely be able to sympathise: it wasn’t just the scores that were disappointing but also the ponderous, treacly rugby on display. Things started similarly this season too but in their past two matches Northampton have shown signs of cutting loose – and North has been to the fore. The 24-year-old scored and had an excellent game in the defeat to Wasps a week ago and, on Friday, stepped up another level against an arguably stronger Exeter defence. He and Louis Picamoles seemed to be competing to see who could break through the Chiefs’ line the most, with North’s stunning effort to set up Rory Hutchinson’s try easily taking the title of most eye-catching. If that was the wing showing off his pace then his own try was a display of his sheer power, as he ploughed through Olly Woodburn and Lachlan Turner to open the Saints’ account. Given the timing of North’s resurgence, Warren Gatland probably owes Jim Mallinder and his team a pint. Dan Lucas
6) Saracens’ Lozowski gamble paying out handsomely
One of the reasons for Saracens’ success in recent years is their ability to make light of the absence of their big players. Owen Farrell has yet to play this season, and while in the past that would not have been a concern for Mark McCall with Charlie Hodgson on his books, he went into the campaign with a new 10, Alex Lozowski, signed in the summer from Wasps where he had been third choice. The intention was to ease in the 23-year old ahead of Farrell’s absence in November on England duty, but Lozowski has started the first five matches and is his side’s top try and points scorer, with four and 58 respectively. His form has earned him selection for England’s elite squad, not to prepare for the autumn series of internationals but to be part of the wider set-up to allow the national coaches a closer look at him. He was chosen with development in mind, which is why Danny Cipriani, considered to be some way behind Farrell and George Ford in the rankings, was left out. He is steady rather than flashy, but his two tries at Bristol showed his opportunism, first to detect space on his outside and then to pounce on the ball after a chargedown at the moment the ball looked to be going out of play. Saracens gambled in not replacing Hodgson with an experienced outside-half, and so far it has worked. PR
- Jones eyes Itoje for No7 role in England’s autumn internationals
- Match report: Bristol 0-39 Saracens
