Who’s hot and who’s not: Owen Farrell links, Northampton’s comeback and struggling Sharks

Colin Newboult

Northampton Saints and the Sharks.

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons after the weekend.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

Saints’ stunning comeback: Few saw Northampton coming back from that. Exeter Chiefs were rampant in the opening 25 minutes of their Premiership clash and went 26-0 ahead at Sandy Park, but somehow the visitors mustered a response. Inspired by Ollie Sleightholme’s hat-trick, the Saints stunned the Chiefs players and supporters by emerging with an incredible 42-36 victory. Phil Dowson’s men evidently showed their attacking ability, but they also displayed their resilience as they returned to the top of the Premiership. Northampton are looking like genuine challengers this season.

Historic Ulster win: Victories at the RDS Arena are incredibly rare for opposing sides, but that’s what Dan McFarland’s men managed on New Year’s Day. Leinster could not deal with Billy Burns’ kicking game (more on him below) and the Ulstermen very much deserved their 22-21 triumph. The head coach has been under pressure recently, but three victories in a row have provided him some breathing space. They are now in fourth place in the United Rugby Championship and in a decent position in the Champions Cup.

Fly-halves step up: The aforementioned Burns was crucial to Ulster’s victory as his kicking caused havoc in the Leinster backfield. Ulster scored three tries from the crossfield tactic in a performance which put the 29-year-old back in the Ireland frame, particularly with no other experienced fly-half sticking their hand up. He wasn’t the only other number 10 to show up well on New Year’s Day, however, as Leinster youngster Sam Prendergast displayed some promise. Prendergast is seen as the next big thing in the country, while Burns has always had talent despite a difficult couple of years, so it will be interesting to see what Andy Farrell thinks come Six Nations time.

Good week for Bristol: In midweek, the Bears received a boost after they announced the signing of star Fiji number eight Viliame Mata before they turned up in Greater Manchester and shocked Premiership play-off challengers Sale Sharks at Salford Community Stadium. Against a big Sharks pack, they really fronted up and dominated the collisions for the first 50 minutes. Bristol did find themselves under pressure on occasion but they defended magnificently and went away with a victory that kept their top-four hopes alive.

BROKEN THERMOSTAT

Owen Farrell links: It is potentially a significant blow for English rugby after the French media reported that the Saracens fly-half is set to move to Racing 92 ahead of next season. If the deal goes through, you cannot begrudge Farrell for deciding to leave the Premiership and getting away from all the scrutiny that has come his way over the years. However, it is a big test of the Rugby Football Union’s overseas policy. Although the playmaker currently isn’t available to Steve Borthwick, given his decision to step away from Test rugby, it is an awful long time for the Red Rose to be without their linchpin and captain.

COLD AS ICE!

Poor few days for Saracens: As intimated above, Sarries could lose their key player should Farrell depart, but they have other concerns too. Alongside the fly-half, it was reported that Billy Vunipola could leave at the end of the season, while director of rugby Mark McCall has said that they are in a “transition” phase, which suggests other long-serving players may follow them. Meanwhile, on the field, they have not reached their usual levels this season and succumbed to their fifth defeat in 11 games, which left them down in sixth position in the table.

Munster’s injury crisis: The Irish province’s United Rugby Championship title defence has been massively hampered by an injury list that has been growing and growing. The situation worsened this week as the club confirmed that Dave Kilcoyne (shoulder), Edwin Edogbo (Achilles) and Diarmund Barron (foot) would all have to go under the knife for their respective injuries, leaving them all sidelined for extended periods. The injury list otherwise is remarkably long with Patrick Campbell (shoulder), Peter O’Mahony (shoulder), Jean Kleyn (eye), Jack Daly (ankle), Liam Coombes (shoulder), Mike Haley (hip), Niall Scannell (groin), RG Snyman (chest/shoulder), Joey Carbery (wrist), Roman Salanoa (knee) and Cian Hurley (ankle/Achilles) all sidelined. 

Home runs end with shock defeats: Although Bristol should be commended for the way they beat Sale, it was a meek way for Alex Sanderson’s team to surrender their home record. For some reason, they were flat as the Sharks were beaten at home for the first time since January 2023, and for the first time in the Premiership since October 2022. That month was also the last time Exeter went down to a loss at Sandy Park before Northampton rocked up and produced a remarkable comeback. At least the Chiefs could take pride in their performance, however, in what was a wonderful Premiership clash. They will just be disappointed to have let the game slip from their grasp having been in a very strong position.

Bad to worse for the Sharks: While it was a bad weekend for the English-based Sharks, it has been an absolutely abject campaign for the South African side. We didn’t think it could get worse for John Plumtree’s men but it did when they went down to countrymen the Lions 20-18 in Durban. That was despite taking an 18-3 advantage after 32 minutes which put them in complete control. However, the visitors mounted a comeback and earned the win via a late converted try from Marius Louw. It left the hosts rooted to the foot of the United Rugby Championship table with just one victory in nine. Utterly dreadful.

READ MORE: Six Nations: All the fixtures and kick-off times ahead of the 2024 edition

Bristol