1) Welford Road classic throws up bigger questions
There was no way of avoiding this particular talking point. When the beaten-up but dried-out turf of Welford Road stages an exhilarating eight-try, 65-point classic such as this, with Islanders in Leicester colours running this way and that (Adam Thompstone was a lone Anglo-Saxon outside Leicester’s No10), you know there must be something in it. Add in the average of 60 points across all four games on a sunny Saturday, and the case for summer rugby becomes ever more insistent. And yet do we not enjoy these festivals all the more for the contrast they cut with the slogs in the mud and rain of winter? If rugby is a sport for all shapes and sizes, all temperaments and moods, do we not need the dark as well as the light? Besides, without rugby, how else are we to get through those unrelenting weeks after Christmas? Even as we dance in the sunshine, we should cherish the days with umbrella and hip flask. Michael Aylwin
• Match report: Leicester 35-30 Gloucester
2) Rough diamond Addison makes Saxons case
Attention was focused this weekend on the return of Chris Ashton to the Saracens’ right wing, but Sale’s No14 Will Addison made a case for inclusion in at least the Saxons squad for the summer tour to South Africa. The 23-year-old is not yet a finisher in Ashton’s mould with just two Premiership tries this season, but he was a threat throughout against London Irish and sparked the best move of the match from deep in his own half that ended when Tommy Taylor knocked on. With Mike Haley and Sam James, Addison is part of a burgeoning back division and the fact Danny Cipriani will not be around next season to help develop it has given their director of rugby Steve Diamond a frustration he cannot mask. He swatted away questions about whether Cipriani should be in the England squad in Australia this summer, saying it was no longer a matter for him to comment on, and as the Sharks continue to get the most out of their squad and playing budget, the danger is that every diamond mined at the club ends up in someone else’s display case. As Sale plot a top-six finish in the Premiership, they have the diversion of a European Challenge Cup quarter-final against high-flying Montpellier this week. “South Africa,” Diamond called the French club as his side continues to box clever. Paul Rees
• Match report: London Irish 15-30 Sale
3) Exeter prove value of potent attack play
How do you stop Exeter Chiefs on a fast track? That’s the question Dai Young and his Wasps players will be asking themselves this week after seeing their Champions Cup quarter-final rivals run in eight tries against Worcester Warriors. There were hat-tricks for Thomas Waldrom at No8 and for Ollie Woodburn on the wing, revealing the all-round potency of the Chiefs attack. If the ex-England No8 doesn’t hurt you from close range, then there is enough talent wide out to conjure up something different and more expansive. Ali Hepher, the Chiefs’ backs coach, said he wanted his side to re-establish their attacking edge ahead of their trip to the Ricoh Arena. They did that and more as Waldrom took his Premiership tally to 13 for the season – just three short of his 2014-15 tally. Isn’t it nice to see coaching teams concentrating on offence rather than defence? Tries, not just tackles, win matches. Rob Cole
• Match report: Exeter 50-12 Worcester Warriors
4) Reasons to be cheerful: one, two, three
With the European quarter-finals looming this weekend, crunch-time is fast approaching for all the leading English clubs. On the evidence of their latest convincing home win, Wasps have every reason to be optimistic as they continue to challenge for trophies on two fronts. They should have Charles Piutau and Dan Robson back fit for the Exeter game and players such as Thomas Young and Rob Miller are visibly growing in confidence alongside such influential figures as Nathan Hughes and George Smith. Most striking of all has been the steady improvement in their scrummaging, with Saints’ pack enduring a tough afternoon. Northampton will also have to do more in attack to unsettle Saracens, having kicked away too much ball and consistently failed to bring Wales’s George North into the game. Do the same against Sarries and, with Dylan Hartley still not back, they will struggle. As their head coach Jim Mallinder wryly observed afterwards: “I think all the clever money will be going on them.” Robert Kitson
• Match report: Wasps 28-6 Northampton
5) Quins aim to send O’Shea off in style
Perched across the A316 from Twickenham, and with a spine of English talent away on Six Nations duty, Harlequins may have felt overshadowed by England in recent months. Another Six Nations side impacting Quins’ season are Italy, with director of rugby Conor O’Shea departing at the end of the season to become their head coach. O’Shea took over after the Bloodgate scandal and has restored self-esteem and silverware in his six-year tenure, but his final season has been a model of inconsistency, with Quins winning nine and losing nine. In their first home game since his Italian job was confirmed, Quins rode their luck against Newcastle but got over the line thanks to two Tim Visser tries. The team are still in with an outside chance of making the playoffs, and a late run to the last four would give O’Shea an appropriate send off. Perhaps more importantly, after Wayne Smith turned the job down, it could make filling O’Shea’s shoes a less forbidding task. Niall McVeigh
