Following the conclusion of round three of the PREM Rugby season, here are our power rankings based on the teams’ results and performances from their respective fixtures.
10. Harlequins (-)
It was certainly an improved performance from Jason Gilmore’s side, as they picked up their first points of the new season, but it’s not enough to move them off the bottom of the power rankings just yet.
There were certainly positives for them at the CorpAcq Stadium, but yet it feels like a missed opportunity. They held a 17-7 lead at one point on Sunday, but they then failed to score a single point after the 53rd minute and ultimately got caught.
9. Newcastle Red Bulls (-)
Like Quins, Newcastle certainly took a step forward in defeat, but they also remain in ninth place this week. The Red Bulls gave Exeter a real run for their money at Sandy Park, which would have handed them their first away win for quite a while, but it also felt like an inevitability that the Chiefs would come away victorious too.
But look, Newcastle have shown they are starting to click, which is some doing at this stage in the season and after the drastic overhaul of essentially the entire club this off-season. That win isn’t far away, be it home or away.
8. Exeter Chiefs (-)
The third non-mover in a row at the summit, with the Devonians remaining eighth in the power rankings despite their victory.
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It’s actually a tough one to really summarise. There’s an argument for them to move up the table after playing the better rugby of the two sides and, as mentioned above, there was an air that Chiefs would always come out the victors despite Newcastle’s best efforts. Then again, there’s an argument to suggest this was not Exeter near their best too.
Eighth feels like the right place for them after this weekend, and they do have that first win under their belt now. Can this be the slingshot for their campaign?
7. Sale Sharks (-)
Another non-mover now, as Sale Sharks also find themselves staying still in our power rankings. If they’d lost, they’d certainly have moved down the ladder given the struggles Quins have had in the early season to date, but the manner of their comeback deserves praise.
They just seemed to steal all of the Londoners’ momentum built across the opening stages as the game went on, using it as fuel for their own fire and eventually grabbing a bonus-point win in the process. You still feel there is more to come from Sale this season, but two wins from three reflects a decent start.
6. Bristol Bears (-3)
Potentially unlucky to fall down so many places compared to last weekend, but that’s maybe the harsh reality of this league? Yes, Bristol headed to the StoneX with some of their key players missing due to the pitch (another point in the ever-growing debate over the use of artificial pitches, but that’s for another day), but this was a big step back from their two earlier performances.
The most concerning thing for them will be the fact they just couldn’t score points, only crossing the whitewash once over the 80 minutes despite creating several clear-cut chances. To be fair, one of those misses was down to some freakish defence from Jack Bracken, but they would have put that away in either of their previous outings. Saracens’ defence simply suffocated them, and they had no answers.
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This could very well be a blip, and on the evidence of their two previous games it is just that, but Bristol were well-beaten at the StoneX on Saturday and see themselves fall down the ladder.
5. Saracens (+1)
On the flip side, Saracens’ win on Saturday evening means they now climb up one spot in the power rankings. This was as good a response as they could have made to their poor defeat to Sale Sharks last time out, and could set the tone for them moving forward. Their pack brought heaps of physicality and steel, particularly in the back-five with Maro Itoje, George Martin and Olamide Sodeke all in the side, while they again showed some intent to play wide ball-in-hand. The combination of Owen Farrell’s boot and Noah Caluori’s aerial excellence was also a crucial weapon.
The challenge for Saracens, and whoever picks the team, now is if they can turn one good performance and one good win into two on the spin. They cannot afford to yo-yo from here.
4. Leicester Tigers (+1)
Possibly the surprise result of the weekend given the respective performances from across the two rounds, but there was a lot to like about Leicester’s win over Gloucester and Geoff Parling’s side climb up the ladder as a result. It just seemed like the Tigers nullified much of Gloucester’s big threats from the opening rounds, the scrum and the lineout, and then used their own strengths to get over the line and secure a big win.
Furthermore, this also felt like a real statement win given the wider context of the two sides’ respective starts, particularly with Leicester losing their opener and then scraping past Newcastle, and could act as a springboard for them moving forward.
Watch this space.
3. Bath (-1)
Scoring 48 points should see you home and dry in any game of rugby, even in this bonkers league, but Bath still ended up on the losing side at the DPD Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens after shipping 71 points. That will sting Johann van Graan, especially with it coming against a major title challenger.
For the most part, Bath’s display was actually pretty good. Their young guns did a really good job against a loaded Saints squad and even held the lead at half-time, but it somehow went very wrong very quickly. It wasn’t even that Bath were that bad, but they found themselves on the receiving end of a Green and Gold storm and good rugby is just very hard to defend. This quote from Phil Dowson probably sums it up best: “I used to have a coach at sevens, Mike Friday, and one of his sayings was, ‘You can’t defend good rugby,’ and there’s lots of good rugby being played.”
Bath will not ship 71 points again this season, but this should serve as a reminder of the task facing them if they want to regain the title.
2. Northampton Saints (+2)
On the flip side, Northampton’s attacking exploits see them leapfrog the Blue, Black and Whites into second place. This was almost as perfect an attacking display as you could hope for, really. They were just on it from early into the game, and didn’t take their foot off the accelerator. The fact you could pretty much name 15 Player of the Match candidates from their side tells you a lot about their performance.
They will, and quite rightly, be upset with the 48 points conceded, but you have to look at that in the same light as them scoring 71. It came via good rugby from Bath, and that’s just hard to defend. But this was a big statement from the Saints, and one they needed to make after a tough loss to Bristol in round two.
1. Gloucester (-)
They might have come out on the losing side, but Gloucester remain at the top of the power rankings. But the gap is certainly closing after their defeat at Mattioli Woods Welford Road.
This was probably the advert for how to beat the Cherry and Whites; if you neutralise their maul and set-piece, then you’re onto something. They will also be hurt by the fact they let Leicester come back into the game when they were 14 points to the good. A team hoping for silverware would have turned the screw at that point.
But it also wasn’t a bad defeat, either. Leicester away is one of the toughest fixtures in the PREM and Gloucester still came out of it with two bonus points. That means they’ve taken 12 points from a possible 15 to start the season.