Brilliant Bath too good for rugged Sale

Bath 28 vs 16 Sale Sharks

The opening game of round 2 of the Gallagher Prem was contested by 2 teams with big ambitions for this season. Bath were still missing several stars and the windy,rainy conditions favoured the away team. However, as is usually the case, it was Bath that prevailed. This game was a battle between Sale's defence and Bath's attack. For long stretches of the game, it was the Sharks defence that was on top. Unfortunately for Sale, their only form of attack was George Ford drops goals and that was never going to be enough. 

Ford is perfectly suited to those conditions, and played a great game, but he was matched on Friday night by Bath's Ben Spencer. The Bath scrum-half is inexplicably still on only 10 England caps but is arguably the best player at his position in the country. In the absence of Finn Russell, Spencer took on more responsibilities in game management with the boot and actually won the battle against Ford. Max Ojomoh also deserves a mention. He is not a natural fly-half and was playing in extremely challenging conditions but eventually got to grips with the kicking and made a couple of excellent attacking kicks. His day was capped off with a wonderful try that sealed the game in the 78th minute. 

One positive that Sale can take out of this game is the performance of Nathan Jibulu. The 22-year-old said that he moved from Harlequins to Sale this summer because the northerners were a better fit for his style of play; so far, that seems to be a great decision. He scored a try that got Sale back into the game and was an all-around menace in possession, just as he was last week. He will seriously challenge Luke Cowan-DIckie for the starting spot when the British and Irish Lion returns to the team. 

Red Bulls still far below their competition

Exeter Cheifs 38 vs 15 Newcastle Red Bulls

There was a lot of hype surrounding Newcastle coming into this season, and there still is, but these past 2 weeks have been a stark reminder of what those at the club already knew - there is a lot of work to be done. Exeter finished 9th last season and have heavily invested in their team. 2 of their biggest investments aren't even available yet and they still showed that there is a vast disparity in talent between the top 9 teams and the Red Bulls.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso is the perfect example of that. SInce losing Adam Radwan, Newcastle have been without the kind of star that can rip apart defences and score unbelievable hat-tricks as the England man managed on Saturday. To rub salt into those Newcastle wounds, Exeter have Brown-Bampoe who can do exactly the same thing. The Red Bulls will have to fight through the rest of next season and build for the future in the meantime. That process would be a lot easier with an experienced director of rugby, who knows the club, at the helm but they'll have to do without for this season anyway.

Quins collapse for a second consecutive week

Leicester Tigers 29 vs 19 Harlequins

Another week, another embarrassing collapse for Harlequins. There are plenty of excuses fly around. Most of them are centred on their lack of star players available for the first 2 weeks. There is some value in that argument given that they are missing: Marcus Smith, Cadan Murley, Rodrigo Isgro and Luke Northmore. However, it's not like their opponents have been at full strength. This just demonstrates what I have said before - their recruitment has been bad for a few years at this point. Harlequins are not lacking the cash to build depth but are just investing in the wrong players. Harry Williams looks like a good signing at tighthead but, when he leaves the pitch, we are quickly reminded that Lamositele was given a sizeable contract just last year and has consistently been a complete liability. Their second row is also too light, and that is another issue that can't be solved quickly. This has the look of another frustrating season in West London.

On the other hand, this turned into a great day for Leicester. They looks set to be on the end of a second bad defeat to start the Parling era before they turned things around. The charge was led by Ollie Chessum, who was given special dispensation to return early from mandated rest. It was quite a way to mark his first game as club captain.

Saracens are well and truly back

Saracens 50 vs 17 Bristol Bears

Last week was an impressive start for Saracens, this was a statement. There were reasons to believe that they are truly back after that game but it was "just" Newcastle that they beat. This week they took apart a team that has a legitimate chance of making the final. You wouldn't think that if you watched what happened on Saturday without any added context. 

This Saracens team has gone back to it's roots with the pack bullying the opposition and Owen Farrell pulling the strings. They also have a core of exciting youngsters coming through and adding to the team in important moments. Most notably, Jack Bracken scored twice from the right wing just like the man he is filling in for (Tobias Elliot) did last season. Elliot and Jack Bracken are great young wingers and are only part of this new core. Jack's older brother, Charlie, came off the bench at scrum-half and looks to have surpassed Davies for the role of back-up to van Zyl. Meanwhile Olamide Sodeke is already, at just 20-years-old, fighting with test-level stars for a place in the starting XV in the second row. The present is bright for Saracens and the future looks just as good.

Bristol will now have to contend with an injury to Louis Rees-Zammit whilst they try to get back up again in time for next week against Exeter. Defeats like this can happen, but they can't be allowed to become a theme.

Saints still can't play second halves

Gloucester 35 vs 37 Northampton Saints

Just like Northampton's game last week, this was a game of 2 halves. The first was dominated by the visitors. Pearson powered over in the 4th minute to get things going. That try was then followed by an onslaught of back-line creativity that cut apart Gloucester's defence. This all led to a 31-7 lead at half time. That seemed insurmountable, but. if the Gallagher Prem has taught us anything recently, it's that no lead is safe. Gloucester came back in the second half through forward dominance with 4 of their 5 tries being scored by members of the pack. These efforts put Gloucester 35-34 up with 10 minutes left in the game. Somehow, the last 10 minutes were the lowest-scoring minutes of the entire match. The only points were scored through a penalty by Anthony Belleau in the 72nd minute that gave the Saints a 37-34 victory. Northampton are in a good position to add back their missing stars to make a big push as the season goes on Gloucester, meanwhile, have failed to take advantage of their opponents missing key players and will have to reset after 2 disappointing defeats.