Newcastle's win huge for Premiership & other talking points

Ask any regular watcher of the Gallagher Premiership to espouse its qualities, and the word "competitive" will almost certainly come up.

Last season's final table illustrated this: Leicester Tigers finished eighth, and only lost two fewer games than runners-up Bath. Fifth-placed Bristol scored more points, and conceded fewer, than champions Northampton. Going into the final round of the regular season, seven teams all had a chance of winning the title.

A salary cap system, designed to ensure equity across the board, means anyone should be able to beat anyone on their day.

However, for much of the past two years, Newcastle's 25-game losing streak threatened to undermine the Premiership's USP.

How can a league boast of being fiercely fought and uber-competitive if one club are just making up the numbers?

In a 10-team league, with only five matches per weekend, can the Premiership afford for one of those games to be a foregone conclusion?

With this in mind, Newcastle’s stirring 24-18 victory over Exeter was not only huge for the club and rugby union in the north-east of England, but for the very essence of the league itself.

Newcastle's win was as popular as it was long-awaited, widely welcomed by fans and pundits alike. Even our colleagues from BBC Radio Devon – who could have understandably focused on the Chiefs' worrying start to the season – paid tribute to Newcastle first and foremost at the final whistle.

With the smallest budget in the division, Falcons boss Steve Diamond needs his team to be confrontational and canny.

Sammy Arnold's try-making first-half tackle and Ethan Grayson's late drop-goal were great examples of this.

"We're trying to build something – it's taking time, but the job in hand is to put on performances like that at home," said Diamond, who provided one of the images of the weekend as he chatted casually to an Exeter fan during the nervous final stages.

With Diamond declaring the "monkey is off the back", the challenge now is for the Falcons to take some more scalps.

But with the league shutting down over November for the autumn internationals, they will have to wait a full six weeks to have another crack at Kingston Park.

Newcastle's win was the biggest story from a gripping weekend.

League leaders Saracens staged a remarkable recovery to beat the comeback kings Bristol 37-35, Michael Cheika's half-time team-talk did the job for Leicester in a 29-26 win against a Gloucester side who continue to enthral – albeit with just one win from five – while Bath powered through the closing stages to pip Quins 26-24 at the Stoop for their third win on the road already this campaign.

The victories for Bath and Saracens mean there have been at least two away wins in each weekend of the Premiership so far, in keeping with those themes of competitiveness and unpredictability.

As a comparison, the French Top 14 – widely considered the best domestic competition in the world (and with good reason) – has produced only two away wins in the whole of October: Toulouse at Pau and Racing 92 at promoted Vannes.

Of the 21 matches this month in the French league, 19 have been won by the home team.

One Premiership side who revel in their home comforts are Northampton. The Saints had started their title defence a little fitfully, well beaten on the opening night by Bath in a repeat of last season's final, and wasteful at Welford Road a week ago.

But under the Friday evening lights at Franklin's Gardens, the Saints were at their scintillating best against Sale, wrapping up the bonus point in a little more than 20 minutes, shocking the Sharks with their ruthlessness and execution as they romped to a 47-17 victory.

Tommy Freeman was a menace in the midfield, George Furbank was typically smooth, Ollie Sleightholme scored two more tries, while Fin Smith's control of the ball, from hand and foot, was an absolute joy.

All four could – maybe should – find themselves facing New Zealand in the white of England on 2 November.

At the heart of the Saints' success is good coaching, with wing George Hendy highlighting on BBC Radio 5 Live the work of head coach Sam Vesty in improving the players.

"We do a bit of hand-eye [training] every single day," Hendy explained.

"Not just rugby balls, but tennis balls, footballs, AFL balls, whatever it is, he is just hammering it in and making us sharper.

"We have a full team of 15 who are able to move the ball. We call it 'click', so as soon as that ball hits the floor, who wants it more? Try and move the ball, move it to space, and let the speedy guys do the work."

Vesty is settled at Northampton. And the last thing England need is any more coaching upheaval. But at some point down the line, he has to be firmly on the Rugby Football Union's radar.

At a time when the Football Association is under the microscope for the appointment of a foreign coach, there is no excuse for their rugby counterparts to ignore the quality on their doorstep.

There were a number of uplifting moments across the weekend.

As mentioned, Diamond spending the last 10 minutes of Newcastle's victory standing pitchside with the fans was a real throwback, while there was a round of applause from players and supporters, external at Ashton Gate for Saracens flanker Andy Onyeama-Christie, six days on from his horrific ankle injury.

But the biggest reception was saved for Ed Slater and his family on Sunday.

It was the fifth time Gloucester and Leicester have played for the Slater Cup, which is named in honour of the former lock, a player for both teams, who retired in 2022 after being diagnosed with motor neurone disease.

Slater's children carried out the trophy before the game – in Gloucester shirts this time, after wearing Tigers kits in March – as he watched on alongside Billy Twelvetrees, external and Fraser Balmain, two other men who have represented both great clubs with distinction.

There are no shortage of historic fixtures and rivalries in the Premiership, but the Slater Cup means Leicester against Gloucester will forever be a special contest.