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Mauger bows out with dramatic win, Robshaw returns in Quins romp
By Christopher Devine
Leicester Tigers provided a victorious send-off for outgoing head coach Aaron Mauger by beating rivals Northampton Saints 36-31 in a high-scoring Premiership thriller.
The Tigers announced the return of Matt O'Connor on Monday, meaning Saturday's game at Franklin's Gardens represented a final contest in charge for Mauger, who had taken charge of team affairs following Richard Cockerill's sacking in January.
Northampton led throughout an action-packed first period that began with three tries in the opening nine minutes.
Yet Leicester came storming back to climb up to fourth in the table, Owen Williams converting second-half touchdowns from Ben Youngs and Lachlan McCaffrey before kicking two late penalties to snatch victory.
Exeter Chiefs produced a gritty comeback to beat Sale Sharks 30-25 and move level on points with leaders Wasps.
The Chiefs looked set to be beaten on a gusty afternoon at Sandy Park when they fell 19-5 down, thanks to a converted Denny Solomona try and five kicks from AJ MacGinty.
However, a Luke Cowan-Dickie score before the interval gave Exeter a lift and further tries from Olly Woodburn and Don Armand saw the hosts earn victory and a bonus point.
Former England captain Chris Robshaw enjoyed a successful comeback from injury as a Harlequins side boosted by the return of several players thumped Newcastle Falcons 53-17 at The Stoop.
Robshaw missed his country's successful Six Nations campaign due to a shoulder problem, but played the full 80 minutes against Newcastle and will hope to do enough over the next three weeks to book a place in Warren Gatland's British and Irish Lions squad.
The Table As It Stands: Harlequins move into sixth in a tight @premrugby table pic.twitter.com/w29Xbx94tQ
— Harlequins ">
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Nice one John. I agree that defence (along with backfield kick receipt/positioning) remains their biggest issue, but that I did see some small improvements in it despite the scoreline like the additional jackal attempts from guys like tupou and the better linespeed in tight. But, I still see two issues - 1) yes they are jackaling, but as you point out they aren't slowing the ball down. I think some dark arts around committing an extra tackler, choke tackles, or a slower roll away etc could help at times as at the moment its too easy for oppo teams to get quick ball (they miss L wright). Do you have average ruck speed? I feel like teams are pretty happy these days to cop a tackle behind the ad line if they still get quick ball... and 2) I still think the defence wide of the 3-4th forward man out looks leaky and disconnected and if sua'ali'i is going to stay at 13 I think we could see some real pressure through that channel from other teams. The wallabies discipline has improved and so they are giving away less 3 pt opportunities and kicks into their 22 via penalty. Now, they need to be able to force teams to turnover the ball and hold them out. They scramble quite well once a break is made, but they seem to need the break to happen first... Hunter, marika and daugunu were other handy players to put ruck pressure on. Under rennie, they used to counter ruck quite effectively to put pressure on at the b/down as well.
Go to commentsYes, probably why he still annoys me even now
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