Paul Rees: It’s time for action, not words

Paul Rees presents his half-term report on the Premiership and finds a clear divide between top and bottom

So much for the season of goodwill. There may be no threat of relegation for Premiership clubs but there is still jeopardy. The holiday period amplified the struggles of Gloucester and Harlequins with social media awash with angst.

Both clubs felt the need to issue statements to help pacify their support base and appeal for reason, but with Gloucester becoming Newcastle’s first league victims of the season and Quins leaking 66 points at Northampton the following day, the second highest total against them in the Premiership, the demand was for action, not words.

Alex Dombrandt, the Quins and England No.8, was in agreement. “We are working hard but at the moment it is words,” he said.

“Everyone at the club wants to see actions come Sunday (when Quins play the Stormers). We are asking fans to stick with us and come out in their numbers.”

Change incoming

The day after the 66-21 defeat at Franklin’s Gardens, the ground where Gloucester were hit for 90 two seasons before, which left club officials scrambling for the bunker, the Quins chief executive, Laurie Dalrymple, and chairman, David Morgan, issued a joint statement which said change was coming.

“Performances and results in the men’s team are not at the level we expect at Harlequins and are not considered acceptable by anyone within the club,” they said.

“Everyone is working tirelessly and urgently to address this, and to deliver the necessary on-pitch improvements.

“Whilst some elements of change will take a relatively short period of time to implement, others will take longer.

“It is critical that such change is carefully considered and will evidently deliver the performance levels we are committed to.”

Harlequins head coach Jason Gilmore

PICTURES: Getty Images

Patience

After Gloucester’s defeat at home to Saracens after Christmas, the club’s chief executive Alex Brown issued a statement on the club’s website that urged fans to be patient.

“We are very conscious that results like this leave supporters wanting reassurance about where we are heading,” he said.

“While not everything can be shared publicly, we can assure you that there is a great deal of work going on behind the scenes to get us back on track.

“Some of this will take time to show through, but there are reasons to believe we are moving in the right direction.

“You will have seen the confirmation of three new signings for next season in Jac Morgan, Dewi Lake and Dan Robson, and those are part of a wider piece of work focused on strengthening the group in the months ahead.”

Brown pointed to Gloucester’s chronic injury problems, which started on the opening night of the league season at Sale when Arthur Clark, Lewis Ludlow and Jack Clement suffered injuries that sidelined them for between two and three months, with most matches bring fresh woe that have decimated their options in the outside backs.

Top and bottom

Bristol have had similar problems, losing Harry Randall, Gabriel Ibitoye and AJ MacGinty in their opening Premiership match, but at the league’s halfway point they are fourth, five points behind the leaders Northampton, and are geared up for the physical contest in a way Gloucester and Quins, who have also been hit by a long unavailability list, are not.

It is commonly said of the Premiership that it is the most competitive of the Premiership leagues with all 10 clubs capable of beating any other on their day, but this season it has so far proved fallacious.

The top four, Northampton, Bath, Exeter and Bristol have yet to lose to a side in the bottom four, Newcastle, Gloucester, Harlequins and Sale.

In only three of the 16 matches have the sides at the bottom picked up a losing bonus point, Sale at Bristol and at home to Exeter and Gloucester against Northampton at Kingsholm, with the average score an uncompetitive 40-20.

The bottom four have only one victory against a top six side between them, Harlequins at home to Saracens in October.

Otherwise, their victories have come against each other. Saracens in sixth have one victory against a top four club, Bristol, as do Leicester in fifth, pipping Bath at Welford Road in October.

In France, Top 14 leaders Toulouse lost at lowly Perpignan on the weekend, admittedly with a largely reserve side and at a ground where they have a poor recent record.

Perpignan remain adrift in the bottom two with Montauban, but only six points separate Stade Francais in third with Racing 92 in 11th.

No margin for error

In the Prem, Sale in seventh are 14 points behind Bristol in fourth, their tilt at a play-off place all but spent.

The Sharks finished third last season, one place above Bristol who had the same number of points, 58, and 56 was enough for them to make the top three the season before.

Which means they are unlikely to be able to afford more than one defeat in the second half, and then only if they pile up bonus points.

Again, they have been hampered by injuries, missing the likes of Tom Roebuck, Asher Opoku-Fordjour and Ben Curry in recent rounds, but their only victory in the last six in the league came at home to Harlequins, struggling for a response when they are matched physically.

If Sale have proved an enigma this season, so too have Saracens.

They are sixth but have lost more matches than they have won and there was a period in the first half at Leicester on Sunday when, despite having the likes of Jamie George, Tom Willis and Ben Earl in their starting line-up and 19 internationals in their 23, they were 26-7 behind at half-time having started as slowly as the Tigers had at Exeter the previous week.

Saracens struggles

“There may be no threat of relegation for Prem clubs but there’s still jeopardy”

“You cannot turn up to a place like this and have the attitude we had in the first 20 minutes,” said Mark McCall, below, Sarries director of rugby.

“There was only one team really up for the physical battle. It was not everybody but it does not take very many to be off attitudinally for others to suffer.

“We have not had back-to-back victories in the Premiership since rounds one and two. A really good performance has been followed by something like that.

“We have all got to be part of the solution, the coaches and me as well, because we are not getting what we should out of a good group of players.

“We will examine everything and try to make the solution a really simple, uncomplicated one. It often is.

“We have yo-yoed all year. When our attitude is right, we look a very, very good team. Too often, it has not been like that.”

Saracens failed to make the play-offs last season, losing out on the final day, having blown a lead against Northampton in the penultimate round.

Their problem then was not defeating the teams above them, recording victories against each of the sides that finished in the top four, doubling Bristol, but those in the bottom half – they lost at the bottom two, Newcastle and Exeter and were doubled by Harlequins.

In contention

The Premiership this season is a case of the top four can beat each other, as can the bottom four (Sale might disagree, but they have played all the three sides below them at home).

The two clubs in between can have their day, but a worry for Saracens is that they have played three of the first four at home.

In contrast, Leicester have only played Bath at home and have won their last nine league matches at Welford Road.

Beaten finalists last season, they remain very much in contention under their fifth head coach this decade, Geoff Parling.

The victory over Saracens was all the more notable because they had a 10-12-13 combination that was playing together for only the third time, with none of the three a first choice – Billy Searle, above Orlando Bailey and Will Wand.

The 29-year-old Searle is on his fifth Premiership club and had stints with Toulouse, Biarritz and Agen in France.

He has never stayed anywhere longer than two years, but on Sunday looked like someone sitting comfortably in a long-favoured chair and tore holes in a team renowned for their defensive solidity.

Long term

So did Wand, a recruit from Coventry last season who has had to be patient.

“He is slowly realising how good he is,” observed Parling last month. “If he keeps working as he has been, he could become a great player at Tigers.”

Wand and Bailey were up against an experienced pair of centres in Lucio Cinti and Nick Tompkins, but eclipsed them in probably the most impressive performance of the Parling era – it could have been worse for Saracens, who were relieved to see two tries scratched on review.

Leicester are one of two Premiership clubs who went into the season with a new head coach: Quins had to act quickly when Danny Wilson left for Wales before the start of the campaign and promoted defence coach Jason Gilmore.

Newcastle parted company with director of rugby Steve Diamond after one league match, but the top four are all settled regimes, as are Saracens, Sale and Gloucester.

Many owners in football’s Premier League are more concerned with the here and now rather than the long term, and while relegation is very much an issue with the bottom three going down, Chelsea and Manchester United were in the top six when they fired their managers during the 12 days of Christmas.

Football at that level has become like a soap opera, with television cameras too often focusing on the antics of managers more than the action on the pitch.

Rugby union has yet to get so personal, especially at club level, and reactions are less knee-jerk, but as owners work towards sustainability, they cannot afford to take the paying punter for granted.

Rout: Edoardo Todaro scores Northampton’s ninth try against Harlequins

Shake-ups

The Premiership’s bottom four have this season either had management shake-ups or are considering them.

Newcastle have a different set-up from last year, Gloucester are looking to bring in someone to take some of the load off director of rugby George Skivington, Sale parted company with head coach Marco Bortolami after just a few months, and Harlequins are looking at their set-up.

“We tried to do something a year ago,” said Skivington, below. “There was a candidate, but it did not come through.

“We have had good discussions around someone and I would love to get it out there and focus on the job.

“My learning in this is that if you think you can do everything, you end up not giving the best version of yourself in all areas.”

Hurts

He added: “I felt the pinch of it last year, which is where the discussions came from, and I am definitely feeling the pinch of it now.

“It hurts a lot. I do not feel any animosity to anyone who is not my biggest fan right now.

“I get it – I support teams, it’s sport. If you look at what we are dealing with, it is tough, and there is nobody wearing it more than me right now.

“My wife told me recently that I was never at home and she does not see me. If anyone thinks I am driving home to sit back and enjoy a glass of wine, that is definitely not happening.

“Pro sport is tough – when it is good, it is great, but this is definitely the toughest spell I have had to deal with.

“There is not a lot of joy in it right now for us and I appreciate what the supporters think, but it will get better.”

The managerial changes at Chelsea and Manchester United were prompted by demarcation disputes with directors of football, advice interpreted as interference.

“There has to be alignment,” said Skivington. “Northampton are a good example of how it can work well with Phil Dowson and Sam Vesty, who have a strong relationship, respect each other and get on as blokes. They bounce off and challenge each other.

“It is an opportunity for us to enhance the programme. What is most important in all this is Gloucester Rugby being successful and that means linking everything up.”