Premiership power rankings: Bath Rugby flying, but key England omissions sink Exeter and Harlequins

Louis Chapman Coombe
Marcus Smith, Maro Itoje, Ted Hill

Here are our Premiership power rankings after round one

Following the conclusion of the opening round of the Premiership season, here are our power rankings based on the teams’ results and performances from their respective fixtures. 

10. Newcastle Falcons

Whilst Steve Diamond’s side showed a more competitive performance in the first-half, they couldn’t maintain it and ultimately let Bristol Bears run away with the game in the end. The worrying thing for the Falcons was, whilst Bristol did improve in the second 40, they didn’t need to properly go up the gears to beat them.

9. Exeter Chiefs

If they had held on in those final few minutes, Exeter would possibly be higher up; but in all honesty they should have put the game to bed long before. The Chiefs dominated the match against Leicester for the most part, but they lacked that clinical edge we have come to expect from Rob Baxter’s side in recent years, and even last season too. It was a disjointed Chiefs side for the most part though, with Olly Woodburn spending 75 minutes of the game at outside centre following Ben Hammersley’s failed HIA, and they still have the likes of Henry Slade, Tamati Tua and Dafydd Jenkins to come back into the mix too, so they will get better.

8. Northampton Saints

Bath were brilliant in their opener, but Northampton just didn’t have the same intensity about them on Friday night that helped them clinch the title. Yes, this is a very new-look side following the mass overhaul from last season, and new recruit Josh Kemeny looked pretty sharp before copping a yellow card, but they were blown away by Bath at the Rec. They too are missing a key part of their starting XV, with Alex Mitchell sidelined, so you would expect things will improve soon enough.

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7. Harlequins

A weird one to sum up this weekend, however Quins can certainly take a few positives out of their narrow defeat to Sale Sharks. Defence has been an issue for Harlequins for a number of years now, but they seemed a lot more solid in this area on Sunday. They brought heaps of physicality in the contact, and importantly prevented Sale crossing their try-line for the full 80 minutes. In a reverse of what we usually expect from Quins, they will be wanting to get their attack purring in the coming weeks if they want to turn narrow defeats into wins; but they were without key half-back pairing of Marcus Smith and Danny Care until late in the day – with them both having limited pre-seasons – but this is probably a quick-fix.

6. Gloucester

Another strange summary incoming; but again that probably best defines Gloucester’s start to the season against Saracens. They looked well beaten for large chunks of the game, however they kept going for the full 80 minutes and put up a really spirited late comeback off the back of it. This will certainly please the Kingsholm faithful, and it shows how good this new-look side could be if they can piece it together.

5. Bristol Bears

The first of the winners now, but the Bears still have some work to do if they want to establish themselves as genuine top four competitors. Pat Lam’s side were restricted to a five-point lead at the break, and whilst they ran away with the game in the end it was by no means the devastating performance they displayed in their last meeting with the Falcons. They didn’t really get out of second gear, though, so there is certainly improvement to come from them.

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4. Sale Sharks

It was by no means a pretty win, but Sale Sharks were dominant for much of the game against Harlequins. They brought their standard grittiness to proceedings, and looked imperious in the contact as ever. A really pleasing thing for the Sharks will be their scrum, as they took Harlequins to the cleaners in this department too. Notably, all six of their front-row options (starting and bench) were English, which is brilliant news for Steve Borthwick. They still need to get their attack going, but the conditions certainly hampered them in this area on Sunday.

3. Leicester Tigers

Their victory at Sandy Park was from pure character. Leicester weren’t fantastic by any means in their dramatic victory, but they fronted up to the Chiefs onslaught and came away victorious. The back-row, in particular, were immense, and new recruit Nicky Smith looked in really good touch at the scrum – an area where Exeter have excelled recently. What stood out was their ability to do the fundamentals well; they competed hard in the breakdown, kicked well when needed and just stuck to their script. Michael Cheika has been open about it taking a while to get going, but they now have a decent platform to kick on.

2. Saracens

The six-time champions were largely written off at the start of the season, but if their performance against Gloucester is anything to go by they are still the deadly force we know them to be. They came into the campaign without the likes of Owen Farrell and Billy and Mako Vunipola, but their new recruits have slotted in seamlessly to this. Mark McCall, like Baxter last year, has also put his trust in the young guns in his squad, and it’s brought a fresh perspective to their style of play. Saracens were devastating in attack when they got it right, and looked solid in the set-piece. The way they let Gloucester claw back into the game could be a worry, but this was just a blemish on an otherwise brilliant opening round for the Londoners.

1. Bath

Wow, simply wow. Bath looked unbelievable against Northampton on Friday night, and certainly showed why they are many people’s favourites for the title this season. They turned to a much more direct approach against the Saints – who beat them in last year’s final – but it brought the best out of them. Youngster Will Butt looked so comfortable in the 12 shirt, and elsewhere Ben Spencer, Finn Russell, Ted Hill, Quinn Roux and Joe Cokanasiga were very sharp in every aspect. The worrying thing for the Premiership is there is still more to come from this Bath side…

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