Could not have gone any worse for Harlequins; could not have gone much better for Leicester. Bath are the first team mathematically guaranteed a place in the playoffs after their home win over Newcastle, but Leicester take another big stride towards joining them. Maximum points in front of nigh-on 26,000 of their faithful sends them above Sale into second, with three rounds remaining.
Quins are not quite mathematically out of it, but realistically this is it for their season. That hideous experience in Dublin a few weeks ago seems to have knocked them sideways, which, combined with a long list of wounded first-teamers, has left them vulnerable. Worse, Marcus Smith spent most of the match hobbling on an ankle injury incurred early on, before he was forced off in the final quarter, a forlorn figure, anxious thoughts of the Lions surely not far from his mind.
“I don’t know how bad it is at the moment,” said Danny Wilson, Quins’ coach. “He showed his toughness by digging in after the early ankle injury, but unfortunately it got worse. He was struggling to execute by the end, as you saw.”
Smith had it relatively soft, though, compared with Cameron Anderson, keen to make an impression on Quins’ right wing, who overdid the enthusiasm in pursuit of a couple of kicks. He received a yellow card in the first half for colliding with Freddie Steward as he leaped to take an up-and-under. If only he had seen the second yellow – and therefore red – he was shown for doing the same thing at the start of the second half, but he was out cold, his head thudding into Steward’s hip. After nearly a quarter of an hour of treatment, he was carried from the field in a stretcher.
“Cam’s OK,” said Wallace. “He’s back on his feet. But he was out for a while. It was a nasty one.”
Contrast the experience of Anderson’s opposite number, Adam Radwan. Since his move from Newcastle mid-season, Leicester’s wing has wooed Welford Road with a blizzard of tries, his hat-trick here bringing up a tally of six Premiership tries in five appearances. He might have had four, but for the fingertips of Joe Woodward, which had minutely brushed the ball forward in the build-up, as noticed by the TMO after the conversion of Radwan’s non-try had been taken.
That would have been his hat-trick, in the 51st minute, but he had it anyway seven minutes later, Steward sending him between two defenders, whereupon he burnt round Tyrone Green as if Quins’ quicksilver full-back were a plodding prop. It had been a torrid day for Green. When he was shown yellow for a deliberate knock-on, which might have prevented yet another try for Radwan, a minute after Anderson’s red, Quins had to play 10 minutes down to 13. Radwan capitalised with his second in that period, after Jack van Poortvliet went blind from a scrum against Quins’ undermanned defence.
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Roundup: Bath hammer Newcastle to seal top spot, Saints win
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Runaway leaders Bath ruled out any chance of being overtaken by their Premiership rivals with a 55-19 bonus-point victory against Newcastle that secures top seeding in the playoffs. However, it took a flurry of second-half tries to subdue the Falcons, who were leading just after half-time despite having lost full-back Louis Brown to a red card.
Bath’s eventual eight tries not only secured a 13th win in 15 matches but took their points difference to an unassailable 238.
Bath’s head of rugby, Johann van Graan, declared himself “very proud of ending first on the log” but cautioned against looking too far ahead, adding: “Who knows what will happen in the next six weeks before a home semi-final in the Premiership? We have put ourselves in a position where I can use the squad. This is all about us. We can’t control what the other teams do. We’ve put our destiny in our own hands.
“We’ve played 35 games across all competitions, including warm-up games and friendlies. You will see squad players getting opportunities over the next few weeks, as we have done all season. Strategically we will do what’s best for us. There’s no point talking about Twickenham. We’ve got to win that home semi-final on the weekend of 7-8 June to get there.”
Northampton produced a blistering display as they warmed up for their Investec Champions Cup semi-final with a 48-31 demolition of Bristol. The Saints were at their sumptuous best as they scored seven tries to put a spanner in the works for Bristol and their Premiership playoff bid.
The Bears had won the past five meetings between the teams, but Northampton were totally dominant as they ensured they would head to Dublin to face Leinster next Saturday on a real high. As for Bristol, they have now suffered three successive league defeats, leaving their top-four hopes in the balance. PA Media
Van Poortvliet impressed again. He had played the same trick in the first half, during Anderson’s first spell in the bin, his break blind from a scrum setting up Ollie Hassell-Collins on the other wing, who finished the day with a brace himself.
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His second, just before Radwan’s hat-trick score, secured Leicester’s bonus point. Van Poortvliet was instrumental again, tapping a penalty and sending a miss-pass to Woodward, who did the same to Hassell-Collins. Hanro Liebenberg scored the Tigers’ sixth in the last 10 minutes, by which time Quins were well and truly gone.
The only try the visitors managed, cheered on by an enclave of Twickenham ultras tucked away in a distant corner of the Crumbie Stand, was the result of the most generous pass Handré Pollard can ever have hurled at an opponent, the first-half clock deep in the red. Luke Northmore was only too happy to run it in from his own half, but, as tries go, this was a far cry from the best of London’s dazzlers.
They have all but left the contest now. The Tigers suddenly find themselves very much in the hunt, just when it matters.