How things stand after 5 rounds of the Premiership, Round 6 looming

The first five rounds of the 2021-22 Premiership have yielded some surprises with some teams rising out of obscurity and looking like real title-contenders while some of the heavyweights of 2020-21 struggling to find form. 

As things stand, the pack is being led by Leicester Tigers – a team which has clearly been busy in the off-season – who have powered through their first five fixtures with aplomb, winning all of them. It has been a great start for Steve Borthwick’s men who ended last season sixth on the log, not even having a say in the play-offs.  

What will also warm the hearts of the Welford Road faithful is the fact that the team, quite apart from losing momentum, are going from strength to strength. Their last performance was a 48-3 crushing of Worcester Warriors. 

 “I was really pleased with the players, their effort was great, they earned that result and, as I always do, I thanked them for all of their efforts,” Borthwick said after the match. “They work hard every day. 

“I also thank the supporters, I thought they were magnificent today. 

“There was a good contingent of Leicester Tigers supporters here and they really made themselves heard. The players really appreciated it. 

“We fought hard, we came through it but we need to be better than that. 

“I just concentrate on how to get better. I say to the players, ‘Enjoy the win, you earned it, you worked hard’ and then we come in on Monday and we talk about Sale Sharks [in Round 6].” 

While Leicester sit comfortably atop the table with their well-earned 23 points, defending champions Harlequins are hunting the pole-position with some impressive displays of their own. Currently on 16 points, they have a game in hand and have won three of their four outings, falling only to Sale in last week’s encounter. 

Despite their recent loss, Quins are a definite danger to the rest of the competition; with bruising forwards such as Joe Marler, Jack Kenningham and Alex Dombrandt up front, the wily, creative duo of Danny Care and Marcus Smith operating the scrumhalf and flyhalf duties, the big battering ram that is Springbok Andre Esterhuizen and the wonderful running skills of Joe Marchant, Tyrone Green and Louis Lynagh out wide, they will again be a force to be reckoned with this season. In Round 6, they will attack Bath at the Twickenham Stoop. 

It is a tight race for third spot on the log where Saracens and Exeter are currently battling it out. While both sides are sitting on 15 points, Saracens are edging Chiefs following their gigantic 71-17 victory over Bath last week, which boosted their status in the ‘points difference’ column on the table. This week, Saracens host Wasps while Exeter meet London Irish at Sandy Park.   

Leicester will line up against the rampant Sale Sharks in Round 6. This will be a tough clash for the Tigers who will need to pay special attention to keeping Sale’s live-wire scrumhalf Raffi Quirke under wraps. Quirke earned last week’s man-of-the-match award with a performance which spurred his team into handing Quins their first taste of defeat for the season. 

Northampton Saints will have a crack at the wounded Worcester at Welford Road on Friday evening. While Saints will be fresh off a bye from the previous round, the last time they were in action ended in a loss – against Wasps at the Ricoh Arena. Worcester have much to make up for after their heavy defeat to Leicester.