Gaz tops, Foxy fires on return and Sanjay’s in stunning form for the Sarries
IT was an eventful weekend in Welsh rugby and for some earning a crust outside of the country.
Three Welsh regions winning in the Guinness PRO14, and some notable performances in England’s Gallagher Premiership, help make it into our winners and losers from the weekend’s action.
Gareth Owen has come to the fore in emphatic style for Leicester Tigers this term Sports writer was out injured.
Leicester’s 19-15 victory turned out to be an error-strewn nervy affair though Owen was a key man in the welcome win for the Tigers, setting his side on their way with the sleight of hand offload for Eastmond to cross and put Leicester 7-5 ahead.
It was a lead they wouldn’t lose. LLANELLI The giant of Welsh club rugby had the safety blanket of Principality Premiership ring-fencing for the last couple of seasons.
But the bun fight among the 16-club Premiership is up and running with four (possibly five) clubs relegated at the end of the campaign.
Before the weekend it wasn’t looking good for the west Wales club, with some worrying beatings to date as injuries in the Scarlets camp and Celtic Cup commitments, took its toll on the club side.
And odds would be against them breaking their duck at the Parc y Scarlets on Sunday when Newport rolled into town.
The applecart was well and truly upturned as Llanelli pulled off a deserved 30-17 victory for a bonus point and a first win of the campaign through tries from Nathan Hart, Tom Rogers, Leon Randell and Liam Hutchins. LIAM WILLIAMS It’s been a remarkable few weeks for Sanjay and his impact on Saracens is akin to that of Mo Salah at Liverpool last season.
In his three starts, and one appearance off the bench, it’s six tries for the Wales and Lions star.
It makes him the Premiership’s joint top touchdown scorer alongside Gloucester’s Charlie Sharples.
Rather than catching the eye from full-back on the weekend, as he’s done in recent weeks, it was Williams cashing in on the brilliance of Sarries No.15 legend Alex Goode in sinking Bath without trace.
His try treble in the 50-27 victory helped the north Londoners become the first side in Premiership history to kick off the season with five straight bonus point victories. NIGEL OWENS It was a typically quiet weekend for our top whistleblower.
Firstly on Friday night the 2015 Rugby World Cup final referee was praised for stepping in and refusing to allow a player back on to the field of play because his Head Injury Assessment (HIA) was not carried out correctly.
Owens was taking charge of Friday night’s PRO14 clash between Edinburgh and Benetton when the Italians’ hooker Engjel Makelara tried to re-enter the field in the 70th minute.
He had been taken from the pitch for an assessment just seven minutes earlier after his poor tackling technique resulted in him taking a knee to the head during a collision with Edinburgh back rower Viliame Mata.
When Owens spotted Makelara re-emerging back on to the field several minutes later he could be heard on the Premier Sports TV commentary saying: “Hang on a minute, boys, what’s going on here