Anthony Watson is set to resume his Leicester Tigers career in the Champions Cup against Stormers on Sunday after missing the Rugby World Cup with a calf injury, but that appears not to mean the bad news that had been expected for club-mate Mike Brown.
There had been speculation Leicester’s re-hiring of Watson would be curtains for Brown, as the 38-year-old full-back was widely believed to have been contracted only up to this month. Watson took part in the warm-up before Tigers’ 47-3 Premiership win over Newcastle.
But when Leicester’s head coach Dan McKellar was asked if both men could be carried in the same squad, the Aussie replied: “Oh yeah. It’s a long year, isn’t it? To win all competitions – and we are playing in them to win them all – you need quality and depth across your squad, and we have got that. Brown is a quality player we are keen to keep around.”
Brown, who had played for Newcastle for a season after he left Harlequins in 2021, looked sharp across the ground and in defence as he started for a sixth time in eight Premiership matches this season. And he was mobbed by team-mates when he scored Tigers’ seventh try. The pats on the head might not have been welcome as Brown had it bandaged to protect a second-half cut, but the mutual appreciation was obvious.
Watson would surely be part of England’s Six Nations plans and McKellar said: “He is a great player, an international, British & Irish Lion. He was outstanding for the Tigers last season. This period has allowed him to get his body in the best shape it’s been in. He is ready to come back and perform.”
Concussion conundrum
Friday’s High Court hearing in the lawsuit by hundreds of players alleging negligence in the handling of brain injuries included a reference by Jeremy Cook, the senior master in the case, to an absence of medical records that would be material to the case.
i understands it is the claimants’ lawyers’ contention that they were not ordered to provide all medical records at the previous hearing in June, when Barbara Fontaine, who has since retired, was senior master.
Meanwhile, observers said over the weekend that the two parties of claimants and defendants – the latter are World Rugby, the Rugby Football Union and the Welsh Rugby Union – did not appear close to any settlement out of court.
It is already three years since the lawsuit was initiated, and some would say the case should be heard, once and for all, and as soon as possible, for the good of the game and all those involved.
Others are arguing it will only damage the game and the players involved – the theory being if the group litigation order is granted, there are likely to be a proportion of the players chosen as representative test cases, and their medical and personal histories would be delved into in detail, placing an arguably intolerable burden on human beings already claiming to have suffered life-changing debilitation.
Marler’s innovation
Take what you like from Saracens’ boss Mark McCall calling out unspecified members of the media for their inaccurate portrayal of the career of the club’s captain Owen Farrell when he withdrew from international duty last week, but maybe Joe Marler’s refreshing approach to critiquing of opponents’ performances will catch on?
Marler had done a 60-minute stint in his club Harlequins’ 36-3 win over leaders Sale to kick off the Premiership weekend when in a touchline interview with TNT Sports he bigged up the Sharks’ replacement tighthead prop Asher Opoku-Fordjour.
The 19-year-old was in the England Under-20 squad in the semi-finals of the World Junior Championship in South Africa in July, alongside other other emerging talents such as Lewis Chessum and Chandler Cunningham-South.
“I have got a big thing about young, up-and-coming front-rowers,” Marler said, backing up a nod of admiration he had given Opoku-Fordjour after one scrum. “[Loosehead] Fin Baxter for us – and this guy, No 18, I like the look of.” Admiring words between opponents, and less of the tribal battle and enmity, could be the way to go.
Trouble at Newcastle
Driving mauls from line-outs can be a surefire way of scoring, as they are so difficult to defend – unless you stop them at source by nicking the throw. Saracens battered Bristol with the maul two weeks ago but the champions were the biter bit on Saturday as Northampton’s Courtney Lawes caught throws from Sarries’ Jamie George as smoothly as if they were in their other customary roles playing together for England.
On Sunday, i was on hand at Leicester to see two sides of the same coin again, as the first try of home flanker Tommy Reffell’s hat-trick came from a line-out maul with centres Dan Kelly and Matt Scott lending extra weight.
Newcastle’s coach Alex Codling sat back in his seat and looked away as soon as the catch was made, possibly resigned to his pack’s fate, and there was another Leicester try by the same route in the second half.
Up the other end Newcastle were twice held out by Leicester’s maul defence including maestro defender Dan Cole. Poor Codling makes no bones about his winless team lacking the necessary power up front due to Newcastle’s budget cuts. “We are the No 1 team in the Premiership in the first 10 minutes,” he said.
A new Premiership club next season?
The bigger-picture question is whether the second-division Championship will provide a winner who satisfies the Premiership’s entry criteria and can therefore contest the two-legged relegation play-off scheduled for the end of the season, against the Premiership’s bottom club. Doncaster might meet the criteria, and they are currently second in the Championship behind Ealing Trailfinders.