The Gallagher Premiership may have taken a round to crank into gear but this weekend demonstrated there’s more attacking ability and young talent in the English game now than ever before.
The Autumn Nations Series may come too early for almost all the new names from an international point of view, especially with England’s squad for their recent summer tour to New Zealand having been so callow anyway, but it’s breathed new life into the league.
The financial situation in the top flight of English rugby compared to that of the Top 14, and the Japanese league to a lesser extent, means some young players are getting their opportunity earlier than they would have a few years ago and the product on the field has not been diminished.
Sam Cane after his 100th Test for the All Blacks and TJ Perenara after his last home game | All Blacks post-match
Sam Cane after his 100th Test for the All Blacks and TJ Perenara after his last home game | All Blacks post-match
The fearlessness of youth, combined with an evolution in how the game is being played across most of the globe, the easing pressure of being at the start of a new World Cup cycle and the fact most teams aren’t worried about relegation anymore, has led to even more thrills and spills than usual.
The wetter, colder weather of December and January might test teams’ attacking intent but there are fewer rounds in the winter months now there are fewer teams in the league and there is a break for the autumn international period so here’s hoping it doesn’t have too big an effect.
England
New Zealand
The likes of Ollie Lawrence (25), Immanuel Feyi-Waboso (21) and Fin Smith (22) lit up Round 2 but they’re already England internationals and it was fresh faces such as Tobias Elliott, Cassius Cleaves, Guy Pepper and Afo Fasogbon who raised the excitement levels further.
The latter waving off Ellis Genge after seeing the seasoned international substituted and having got the better of him at scrum time on a couple of occasions was arguably the image of the weekend. It was all smiles afterwards but you can be sure Genge has already put a ring around March 29 in his diary when Bristol are due to take on Gloucester in the reverse fixture.
Fasogbon was part of the England U20 side that won the World Rugby U20 Championship for the first time in eight years in the summer and he’ll be coming up against the other prop from that title-winning team in Asher Opoku-Fordjour on Friday night, which could be tasty.
That pair look destined to don a white shirt at senior level and England have a couple of veteran props in Joe Marler and Dan Cole still chugging away so you’d imagine they’ll be brought into the fold gradually but I can’t see them being thrust in against New Zealand, Australia and South Africa at this stage.
Fin Baxter is still only 22 years old and has started the season brilliantly for Quins, on the back of starting the second Test against the All Blacks in Auckland in July, so he’ll be involved and England now have a clutch of front rowers coming through.
It’s a much tougher task for Elliott and Cleaves to force their way into the international reckoning given that Feyi-Waboso, Tommy Freeman, Tom Roebuck and Ollie Sleightholme are all still under the age of 24 and already involved with England but it’s just great to see even more young talent coming through out wide and playing with freedom.
Elliott scored a try and set up one in Saracens’ comprehensive win over Sale and Cleaves is being talked up by everyone at Harlequins and many others outside of the club as well.
Sarries have been the surprise package of the opening couple of rounds, which sounds odd to say given their pedigree but they’ve scored nine tries, bagged try bonus points in both wins and look better than they did at the end of last season.
Maintaining that with Fergus Burke filling Owen Farrell’s boots and without the Vunipola brothers, Sean Maitland and co is a tough ask, of course, but they’ve started like a train.
Bath have been similarly impressive but that’s no shock given the motivation of losing last season’s final and the level of investment at The Rec. The fact that only two teams have won both their opening games only reinforces just how competitive the Premiership is nowadays.
Afo Fasogbon (Photo by Carl Fourie/World Rugby)
It is more of a sprint than it used to be but Northampton recovered from losing their opening couple of games to win the title last season so there’s still some hope for Exeter fans at the other end of the table.
It doesn’t get any easier for them though with a trip to Saracens this Sunday and you can’t help but feel they’re going to struggle to make up enough ground to be in playoff contention come May.
For Newcastle, as much as Steve Diamond has insisted they won’t finish bottom, success would be a couple of victories after the campaign they endured last time around.
The rest will be battling it out for play-off places and Champions Cup spots but it’s the vibrancy, youthful exuberance and attacking rugby, just as much as the competitiveness, that caught the eye over the past few days.
Steve Borthwick likes to talk about getting fans excited and has greater control over players now. Competition for those 25 Enhanced EPS berths is only going to intensify in the coming months and years and he must have been licking his lips at the weekend.
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