1) Saints defeat worryingly unsurprising
One of the most extraordinary turnarounds in rugby history was the manner in which Leinster overturned a 16-point half-time deficit in the 2011 Heineken Cup final, which had flattered them, so comprehensively had they been outplayed by Northampton. At the time we marvelled at the transformation of Leinster in the second half, eventually triumphing 33-22, but perhaps we should have been more alive to the capitulation out of nowhere of the Saints. Since that day, during a period that has seen them crowned champions of England, reach another Premiership final and two European quarter-finals, they have suffered humiliations in every European campaign. The following season they lost 41-22 in Castres and then 51-36 to Munster in a supposedly home tie in Milton Keynes. The season after that they lost properly at home to Ulster, 25-6, the most modest of this rollcall of indignities, but as comprehensive as any of them. Then it was a 40-7 humiliation at home to Leinster in the 2013-14 season, before Racing took over, smashing them 32-8 at Franklin’s Gardens in 2015 and 33-3 in Paris last season. In that context, Castres’s 41-7 victory over them on Saturday was nothing out of the ordinary. And that is the most concerning aspect of all. Michael Aylwin
Match report: Castres 41-7 Northampton
Wood questions Saints’ commitment after heavy defeat at Castres
2) Williams injury just part of the problem for Scarlets
Wales face Australia in less than two weeks still not knowing if Jamie Roberts and George North will be released by their clubs, but equally concerning for them was the ankle injury suffered by the full-back Liam Williams early in the defeat at Saracens. He left the ground in a moon-boot and although the Scarlets said that was a routine precaution, he has had ankle problems before. Williams is in line to start at full-back against the Wallabies despite the return to fitness, and the Toulon starting line-up, of Leigh Halfpenny, who missed most of last season with a knee injury. Williams was one of Wales’s star turns on the summer tour to New Zealand, especially dangerous on the counterattack, and Halfpenny is still feeling his way back for his club. Halfpenny started his career on the wing, which is where he may return for the summer series, if Williams is passed fit. The Scarlets missed Williams having lost their Wales centre Scott Williams with an ankle injury in the build-up to the game. They took the game to Saracens, but lacked their hosts’ cutting edge, although some rehearsed moves worked well. The respective benches showed how far the Welsh regions have fallen behind Premiership clubs in terms of financial resources and their prospect of a first Champions Cup success remains remote. The road to European recovery is long. Paul Rees
Jones and England wait for news of Itoje hand injury
Match report: Saracens 44-26 Scarlets
Saracens close in on European record but Goode seeks improvement
3) Toulouse and Wasps put on a show despite state of the pitch
Of all the things to talk about after a match like that, it’s a scandal that anyone should choose the state of the pitch. But it was as bad as that. The Wasps players were fuming afterwards about what such inadequate infrastructure says about the game we’re all trying to promote – and what it does to the game itself. And the players. Josh Bassett, in particular, has cause for complaint, his foot sliding across a loose piece of turf as he scored a brilliant try, then catching so that he twisted his knee. Who knows how long he’ll be out. This game was meant to have been played at Stadium Toulouse, but it was transferred to Toulouse’s regular home because of some virus in the turf there. It’s clearly catching, because the turf at the Stade Ernest-Wallon curled up every time anyone so much as dug a stud in. It’s incredible that the players managed to put on such a show despite all the reset scrums. The Stade de France pitch is similarly unreliable, and Montpellier’s looked horrible earlier in the day. Rather than ratcheting up the price of a rugby player, inflicting untold damage on the game elsewhere, French rugby would do well to save a few pennies for the state of the turf those superstars are obliged to strut on. Michael Aylwin
Match report: Toulouse 20-20 Wasps
Cipriani: ‘I’m enjoying my rugby, I’m in a different place now’
4) ‘Barcelona’ flop in Manchester
“Ah, but would they fancy it on a Friday night at Sale?” we were cued to ask when a Toulon side likened to Lionel Messi et al rocked up at the monument of misery that is the AJ Bell Stadium. Toulon, though, are willing rugby brutalists, equipped to be ugly and functional, and had motivation to respond to their opening-round loss. Yet in the 70 minutes for which Sale had 15 players were on the park, in decent conditions, they mustered nul points. They often looked wide, where they were especially barren. “Fat boys” wandering into midfield can be the enemy of back play, but here the lump, Mathieu Bastareaud, wore 13 - the issues being gas (negligible), awareness of space (none) and footwork (sorry, what?). Ma’a Nonu, “a unit” in most company, looked positively elfin beside him but, detached from the All Blacks, as ordinary as southern imports can in the drearier European game. And you’ll have missed him, but James O’Connor, too, was apparently on the pitch. For years Toulon were less than the sum of their parts – owner Mourad Boudjellal’s collection of candy-stick cards more than real-life team – before hardening around a nucleus led by Jonny Wilkinson. The post-Wilkinson mob seem in search of an identity. In a composite XV of Friday’s teams, you could make a case for a back division including none of Toulon’s embarrassment of Escande, Trinh-Duc, Habana, Nonu, Bastareaud, O’Connor and Halfpenny. Because Toulon are not Barcelona. For the moment, they’re back to being the Barbarians on a bad day. Tom Bell
Match report: Sale 5-15 Toulon
Comments (…)
Sign in or create your Guardian account to join the discussion