Arundell's revival, Smith's boot & wounded Bears - Prem talking points
Bath's Henry Arundell, Harlequins' Marcus Smith and Bristol's Pat Lam all enjoyed victories during Prem Rugby's derby weekend
- Published
Before the start of this season, Henry Arundell's last appearance in England was on a bitter December evening in Sale.
Playing for Racing 92, he endured a miserable outing. Shorn of confidence, short of pace, he was comprehensively outshone by fellow wing Tom Roebuck in a 29-7 defeat.
But playing for this Bath side is a heck of a tonic.
Arundell, still only 22, sizzled in the 38-17 win over Gloucester, setting up tries for Tom de Glanville and Ollie Lawrence with top-end speed and deft basketball-style offloads.
He has plenty of competition for his place in this stacked Bath team from fellow wings Will Muir and Joe Cokanasiga, before he even starts thinking of an England return.
But Arundell, who burst on to the Test scene with a debut try against Australia as a teenager back in 2022, will surely have another shot at the international game. Maybe fairly soon.
His performance was just one ominous aspect for the rest of the Prem.
Ewan Richards, two of whose three league starts last campaign came as front-line stars were rested for the play-offs, crossed for two tries in a barn-storming showing, while Santiago Carreras, making his Bath debut against his old team, filled in at both full-back and fly-half in a 20-minute cameo off the bench.
The champions have three wins, a maximum 15 points and a lead over the rest already.
Smith changes tack and keeps up derby trend
Marcus Smith is in a three-way battle with Fin Smith and George Ford for England's fly-half role
Is this the start of a new sort of unexpected at The Stoop this season?
Eight minutes gone, snappy ball off the top of the line-out, and fly-half Marcus Smith attacks just inside Saracens' 10m line.
In seasons past, it might have been a twinkle of the toes from Smith or a pop to a bludgeoning run from inside centres Andre Esterhuizen or Lennox Anyanwu.
This time though, Smith punted an old-school up-and-under into the autumnal sun.
Max Malins spilled it, Chandler Cunningham-South seized upon the ball and five phases later Smith himself was plunging over.
In total, Harlequins kicked 32 times for 923 metres, compared to Saracens' 27 kicks for 678m.
Smith pulled every club out of the bag on his return from British and Irish Lions duty, sliding in some cute grubbers and probing cross-field rakes, along with the high-altitude aerial stuff.
There was plenty to interest new England attack guru Lee Blackett.
"Was it Quins? I'm not sure but it was certainly a different way to win a game," said Quins' head coach Jason Gilmore, who had suffered defeats in his opening two Prem games since being elevated to the top job after Danny Wilson's departure.
"I don't think it'll be something you'll see in our game regularly. We are Harlequins and we want to use the ball and we want to be scoring four tries a game. That's our DNA."
In the end, just two tries were enough to give Harlequins a third successive win over their London neighbours in a typically feisty contest.
Saracens back row Ben Earl celebrated his try with two thumbs up to the home fans, while Quins wing Cadan Murley admitted beating a side with Owen Farrell restored was a major motivation for the hosts.
There was plenty of mongrel from Guido Petti on debut. The Argentine was a key part of European champions Bordeaux-Begles last season and, combining with fellow new signing and second row Kieran Treadwell, has given Quins an angrier edge up front.
Bristol feel the backline pinch
Tom Jordan was shown red for a high hit on Ross Vintcent
Never mind bare bones, Bristol are getting down to the marrow.
Bears boss Pat Lam was already missing 15 backs from his squad last week with first-choice half-backs AJ MacGinty and Harry Randall, last season's top try-scorer Gabriel Ibitoye and big summer signing Louis Rees-Zammit among those out.
With Scotland star Tom Jordan now facing a likely suspension following his red card for a reckless shoulder into the head of Exeter number eight Ross Vintcent - and Josh Carrington and Jack Bates both coming off with apparent head knocks - the crisis only deepened in their win over the Chiefs.
It has meant a change of style and personnel.
"The forwards can see the issues with the backs and they said to the backs 'don't worry we'll give you the platform' and they certainly did that," said Lam.
Stand-in fly-half Sam Worsley, who started the season in third-tier National League One with Dings Crusaders, came up clutch off the bench, converting Gabriel Oghre's try from out wide before landing a monster penalty with the clock in the red, when he could have punted into the stands to end the game and take a one-point win.
Lam will be eyeing the autumn break and a chance for his squad to recover. Two matches separate the Bears from that respite.
Winless Gloucester will be itching to get at their patched-up backline at Kingsholm next time out, while champions Bath will want to avenge their only home defeat in the Prem last season.
A team from the forgotten three
As we enter the week in which Wasps went into administration three years ago, reminders of the talents affected by their demise, as well as those of Worcester and London Irish, were everywhere this weekend.
A combined team of those three teams stacks up impressively
Combined London Irish/Wasps/Worcester XV: Henry Arundell, Immanuel Feyi-Waboso; Ollie Lawrence, Benhard Janse van Rensburg, Ollie Hassell-Collins; Fin Smith, Ben White; Danilo Fischetti, Gabriel Oghre, Afolabi Fasogbon, Chandler Cunningham-South, Joe Batley, Jack Willis, Ted Hill, Tom Willis.
Honourable mentions to Alfie Barbeary, Curtis Langdon, Will Joseph, Tom Pearson, Ben Loader and many others.