Immanuel Feyi-Waboso, Raffi Quirke and Billy Searle – Prem talking points

Every year, at the back of the annual salary cap report, Prem Rugby puts together various graphs to measure how it compares with other rugby competitions in terms of entertainment.

The closeness of scorelines, the number of tries, the variety of title winners are all plotted.

In recent years, in some respects, the Prem has slipped back.

In 2021-22, 46% of Prem games finished with the two teams within seven points of each other.

Last season there was an all-time high of eight tries per game, but more scores came with fewer close games.

Less than 32% of were decided by seven points or fewer.

This weekend, three out of the five matches met that metric.

But perhaps next year’s report should just feature a picture of Bath owner Bruce Craig hollering with delight from the comfy seats.

His side’s win over Exeter was absolute theatre – a nine-try humdinger decided in the final minute as Arthur Green dived over at the end of 38 blue-black-and-white attacking phases.

Thrilling entertainment.

But, when it is picked apart in the cold light of the laptop by the teams’ analysts, there might be more to cheer the Chiefs than the champions.

Bath’s win was built on an early blitz.

Four tries inside the first 20 minutes gave them the earliest attacking bonus point of the season by some distance. All those scores were against 14 men, however, after Exeter’s Campbell Ridl was shown a 20-minute red card for taking out opposite number Henry Arundell in the air.

When it reverted to 15 v 15, comeback specialists Exeter were the better side, clawing their way to parity from 26 points down.

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso looked particularly impressive.

It is testament to the 23-year-old’s quality that despite being third in the league for metres made (530) and joint top for line breaks (17) going into the game, it has felt like there is more to come from him.

On Saturday, it arrived. He successfully chased down Harvey Skinner’s kick-off at the start of the game and went on to beat 12 defenders and make 72 metres from his 12 carries. Power, pace, determination and footwork – no-one is harder to stop with the ball in hand in the league.

Elsewhere in the visiting ranks, Henry Slade put on a prime kicking display and Tom Hooper and Greg Fisilau were at the heart of a vibrant visiting pack.

It was a first defeat after five straight top-flight wins for Exeter, but there were plenty of positives before Bristol arrive at Sandy Park on 24 January in the next round of Prem action.

Following on from their chastening home defeat by Northampton last weekend, there remains a sense that Bath may not be quite as formidable or fluid as they were 12 months ago.

There is a corner of Mattioli Woods Welford Road – where the East Stand meets the Crumbie Stand – that photographers keep their lenses trained on.

Six months ago, Adam Radwan twice plunged over in that corner to provide the defining image of Leicester’s semi-final win over Sale.

On Sunday, his high-dive finish on the same spot summed up the difference between the teams.

It came at the end of a first-phase move that began on Tigers’ own 22-metre line and cut through a pedestrian Saracens’ side with disarming ease.

Gas is in short supply among the visitors’ backline, which featured a midfield combination of Nick Tompkins and Lucio Cinti and Max Malins opposite Radwan’s pace.

Leicester have now won five out of five at home. Their resolve and quality was summed up by Billy Searle.

The 29-year-old was signed from second-tier French side Agen in the summer as Tigers hunted a replacement for Handre Pollard. So far he and Australia veteran James O’Connor have made sure the South African hasn’t been missed.

Searle set up tries for Radwan and Freddie Steward with clever grubber kicks and was a threat throughout with ball in hand.

Late on Searle riled Elliot Daly, who had earlier been sin-binned for a late shot on the fly-half, by taunting him for a poor pass. Leicester were duly awarded a penalty when the retaliation arrived. And Searle’s smile stayed firmly in place.

«I’m loving life, I feel like I have really fitted in well here,» he told BBC Sport afterwards.

«I feel like I am playing some of the best rugby of my career.»

One of the keys to South Africa’s seven-one bench split has been the ability of a pacey scrum-half – either Cobus Reinach or Grant Williams – to cover wing from among the replacements.

Sale’s Raffi Quirke got an extended chance to show he can do something similar against Bristol.

When Alex Wills was wiped out by a Bill Mata tackle in only the second minute, rather than call on specialist wing Gurshwin Wehr from the bench, Sale opted to shift Quirke wide instead.

For 50 minutes or so it worked. Quirke was quick, strong and, as you would expect given his passing ability, linked superbly with Joe Carpenter at full-back.

But Quirke’s curse over the last few years has been injuries. A knee knock left him lame in the build-up to Matias Moroni’s try and spelled the end of his night as Sale slipped to a 19-17 defeat.

Another trademark late run into the play-off spots now seems vanishingly unlikely for Sale.

For Quirke, whose last England appearance – a try-scoring cameo in a win over South Africa – was now more than four years ago, the route back into Test rugby also seems narrow.

Will England coach Steve Borthwick ever see enough to convince him that Quirke has the versatility and durability to be the solitary back on his bench?

Newcastle Red Bulls brought to an end a year-plus, 19-match losing streak with a deserved 25-19 Friday night victory over Gloucester.

But the win hinged on a couple of cards.

With a quarter of an hour gone and the hosts seven points ahead, Gloucester’s Arthur Clark tackled opposite number Jamie Hodgson. On the ground, Hodgson appeared to strike Clark in the head. Clark reacted by wrestling his way into Hodgson’s face, via a retaliatory forearm.

Referee Christophe Ridley watched the replays and decided to issue two yellow cards and give the penalty Newcastle’s way for Clark’s retaliation, rather than Hodgson’s strike.

It was a tight call. But the scoreline quickly got loose.

Brett Connon kicked to the corner, Tom Christie burrowed over from the resulting line-out and the lead stretched to 12 points.

In the second half, Ollie Thorley’s over-eager, clumsy kick-off chase resulted in an accidental clash of heads with Newcastle’s Alex Hearle. Thorley was shown a 20-minute red card.

Once they were restored to a full complement, Gloucester scored two tries to narrow the gap, but it was too little, too late.

Twenty-minute red cards may have given a little more leeway, but the premium on discipline is still high.

A stock image of a branded ball and a headline reading simply ‘Club Statement’ is always an ominous start.

What followed on Harlequins website was effectively a vote of no confidence from the club hierarchy in the team.

«Some elements of change will take a relatively short period of time to implement,» was one particularly foreboding line.

Their side, under the leadership of Jason Gilmore, have won only twice in nine matches this season, shipping 40 points in their past three outings.

The sight of teenage Northampton wing Edoardo Todaro shrugging off four tacklers on his way to the line as Saints racked up a 10-try victory was the latest eyesore in a soft-centred season.

With Gloucester’s George Skivington also under pressure, could this block of European action be when clubs take the chance to make changes to coaching set-ups?