Sale lost their French prop Lionel Faur?sent off for punching, in the second half but Valentin Courrent, with a try and a drop goal, and Daniel Larrachea, with two penalties, sealed the win Rob Vickerman scored a late Leeds try.. Worcester's head coach, Anthony Eddy, singled out Shane Drahm's best performance in a Warriors shirt as the main reason they sprang a huge surprise on Friday night by sending Leicester to their first league defeat of the season, 15-11, at Sixways. The Australian fly-half, who moved from Northampton in the summer, slotted five penalties, as Worcester recorded their first victory over their Midland rivals.. The start of the autumn internationals forces some clubs to search deep into their collective souls and training grounds to assemble a decent squad. Bath, with six players away with their countries and three more absent through injury, are paying a heavier toll than most. It was no great surprise they lost their first match in eight to a spirited London Irish side, but what will concern head coach John Connolly was the sloppy nature of the defeat..
Matches have come better, but not many. Any recent frustrations suffered by the home fans were forgotten as Gloucester squeezed home in an enthralling game There was a great deal of decent rugby from both sides. Gloucester had the edge, though, not least the psychological one, given that Newcastle have not won at Kingsholm since they won the title in 1998.. To call this a reality check for Welsh rugby doesn't begin to do justice to a torrid afternoon when New Zealand stated their standing as the world's best team with staggering assuredness. In international rugby the margins between winning and losing are indeed slight. But New Zealand were so much the better side it was frightening.
There were a few reasons, however, for my nation not to descend head first into a barrel of depression. I defy any team to prosper without six of their most important players, as Wales were yesterday, and I say this in the knowledge that New Zealand started without one of the game's finest operators, Richie McCaw. The difference is, of course, that old favourite called "strength in depth" and Wales simply do not have the back-up to be missing players of the calibre of Dwayne Peel, Tom Shanklin and Gavin Henson.. Graham Henry, the Kiwi coach who was in charge of Wales from 1998 to 2002, said he had very fond memories of the Principality and had made a great number of friends. It didn't stop him from unleashing All Black havoc here, and this in the Welsh Rugby Union's 125th anniversary year. In this most evocative of fixtures, the All Blacks confirmed what almost everybody already knew - they are playing a game with which others are not familiar, and in Daniel Carter they have the best stand-off on the planet..