Bears missing MacGinty
Bristol have been the standout team of the season so far, Sale clearly had something to say about that. AJ MacGinty is injured and will be missing for around four months. The young Worsley is an exciting prospect but was given a masterclass in fly-half play by George Ford. Bristol stubbornly stuck to their principles of expansive play. The risks of this were brutally exposed throughout the game but perhaps most exposed by Curry intercepting an unnecessary pass five metres out and waltzing in for a try. Bristol will now have to find a way to cope and maintain a playoff position. It would be a shame for this season to be lost due to injuries but with Ibitoye's fitness now in question, can they keep their top four place?
Bath batter Saracens
Last week Saracens comprehensively beat last year's champions, Northampton. This week, they were embarrassed by last year's beaten finalists, Bath. This was a result nobody saw coming. Bath were probably favourites but a first-choice Saracens team getting beaten by 58 points was unthinkable. They will look to brush this off and continue with what has otherwise been a successful season up to this point. Bath have now made another statement of their ability to win this league.
Saints find relief
It has been a rough season for Northampton and this was a must-win game. The Saints won, and they won by a lot. Hopefully, this game will act as a pressure release for this team and allow them to start anew for the rest of the season to come. The playoffs are now a challenging aim but as long as Northampton have players such as Mitchell and Smith, we cannot write them off. As for Newcastle, there was an obvious difference in ability which comes as no surprise. Losing by such a big margin is painful but they will be much more focused on their remaining home games this year. They will also likely have more motivation after seeing Exeter get their first win of the season and leapfrog Newcastle into 9th and leaving the Falcons bottom of the league once again.
Another Draw
Going into this weekend's "big game kickoff" at Twickenham, Harlequins had played Leicester twice in this fixture with both games ending in draws. saturday's result was the same. The game finished with a Dan Cole try and Handre Pollard conversion followed by Ben Youngs kicking the ball out to end the game in a draw. A decision that was frustrating for a neutral but probably sensible given the points already earned. The star of the show was Freddie Steward who has really come into his own this year in an attacking dynamic and with the injury sustained by George Furbank, he is surely destined for another run at fullback during the six nations. As for Harlequins, they really needed a win but 3 points is not a bad compromise. However, it does mean that they now have a minuscule margin of error to make the playoffs this year and Champions' cup qualification is also far from guaranteed.
Chiefs get first win
It took half of the regular season for Exeter to finally register a domestic win. This one came at home at a packed Sandy Park against a confident opponent in Gloucester who fought hard but were ultimately overcome by a desperate home team that it seemed were destined to win. Big players like Ethan Roots and Josh Hodge stood up for Exeter when they were needed most and got them over the line. This win moves them off the bottom of the table and into 9th place. Gloucester will be disappointed but can
take many positives from their performance on Sunday.
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