Rate it!

0 votes

Round seven of the Guinness Premiership went pretty much to form, except of course for struggling Leeds' first win of the season away to Wasps.

HOT

Ceiron Thomas (Leeds)

Leeds came close to toppling league leaders Saracens a week before their trip to Adams Park and finally showed at Wasps that they can be more than competitive in the English top flight. It was by no means a classic but the Leeds forwards did what they had to do and fly-half Ceiron Thomas (pictured) did the rest by slotting five goals in difficult conditions for a 15-9 victory that proved once again that there are no easy games in the Premiership.

Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester)

Led a front-row effort that destroyed the Northampton scrum and set up the platform for an impressive 29-15 Tigers victory in the Midlands derby. The Italy prop also refused to flinch in the face of some fearsome tackling, especially from Saints flanker Neil Best, and showed that the Tigers are still likely to be the team to beat this season, especially when they get most of their players back from injury.

Noah Cato (Saracens)

Poor Bath defence may have made Cato's visit to The Rec more profitable that it should have been, but the England U20 wing was a threat all afternoon and showed that Saracens have the weaponry to be a a multi-dimensional side. Cato breached the home defence on a number of occasions and grabbed Sarries' second try in their 12-11 victory.

Charlie Hodgson (Sale)

Hodgson set the tone on a weekend for the kickers as he nailed seven penalties and a conversion in the Sharks' 28-23 Friday night victory over struggling Gloucester at Edgeley Park. Hodgson has not always performed at his best for England, and his defence has been shown wanting on several occasions, but with his sublime running and passing surely he is a better international bet than Andy Goode?

Rory Clegg (Harlequins)

Standing in for former All Black Nick Evans is no easy task for a 19-year-old, and Clegg by no means had a perfect afternoon in a surprisingly drab 9-9 draw with local rivals London Irish. But he showed composure beyond his years when he was handed a last-minute chance to secure a draw in what was the last act of the game. It was a relatively straightforward chance, in front of the posts and from about 40 metres out, but more experienced kickers than Clegg have missed from that distance when the pressure was on.

NOT

Gloucester

The West Country side actually played quite well in going down at Sale and out-scored their opponents by three tries to one. But confidence in Bryan Redpath's side is clearly at a low, and there are growing doubts over whether the former Scotland scrum-half will be able to guide them clear of a potential relegation battle.

Bath defence

Bath's tackling against Saracens was woeful at times especially when they allowed Sarries to score soft tries through Andy Saull and Noah Cato. Defence coach Brad Davis will certainly have his charges working hard on that side of their game this week. Bath are not the same quality team they were last season how could they be without Butch James, Michael Lipman, Matt Stevens and Alex Crockett but that is no excuse for their shoddy defence.

Terence O'RORKE / Eurosport