Premiership Rugby Team of the Week: Round 2

Northampton Saints 30 – 24 Exeter Chiefs

Saturday's action saw Harlequins and Saracens record side by side London wins in the afternoon kick off, as they despatched of Newcastle Falcons and Sale Sharks respectivley. The late Saturday fixture saw Northampton Saints claim the victory over Exeter Chiefs, before Leicester Tigers fell victim to a formidable Bath Rugby, who took the away win back to Somerset on Sunday.

Bristol Bears 41 – 44 Gloucester Rugby

I Harlequins 28 – 14 Newcastle Falcons

Here are RUCK's picks for the Premiership Rugby Team of the Week, after the second round.

Proving his worth to England, Furbank controlled well from the back and found teammate Rory Hutchinson with a beautiful cross-field kick. A solid performance for the England international.

A Premiership hat-trick for the former Racing 92 man, Wade is setting down the marker on how he wants to break Chris Ashton's Premiership try scoring record. The former Buffallo Bills running back was electric against the Bears, and helped the Cherry and Whites to their first win at Ashton Gate, since Pat Lam took charge of Bristol.

Given the long awaited duties of place kicking, midfield maestro Alex Lozowski stepped up to the tee and sent eight efforts sailing through the uprights. The centre has long sort after the Saracens goal kicking duties, and bided his time whilst Owen Farrell and Elliot Daly shared the role. Aside from his kicking, Lozowski was instrumental in orchestrating the Saracens attack, and carved many paths through the Sale Sharks defence.

Ruck Bath Rugby Reporter Sam Jess witnessed the England midfielder at his very best: "The centre has been a consistent weapon for Bath since arriving from Worcester two years ago, but he had a slight dip off, from his very high stands, in form come the end of last season.

"However, today, Lawrence was his electric best again, causing havoc in attack but also showing his defensive improvement as he and Will Butt denied the Tigers any access through the midfield."

A good performance on the right flank from the winger. He was denied a couple chances early on but maintained his levels of effort to grab himself two tries on the night. Ever impressing back in Chiefs colours, after establishing himself on the England stage last year. Expect plenty of fireworks from Feyi-Waboso this Autumn.

A superb kicking performance from the home-grown fly-half. Not only great from the tee, but fantastic with the boot throughout the game, constantly placing Chiefs under pressure in their 22 and finding the touchline well repeatedly. A big statement from the Saints’ number 10 to Steve Borthwick for the England jersey after injury to George Ford earlier today in North London and the absence of Owen Farrell.

Ruck West Country Reporter Ben Thorne writes: "The Welsh 9, named captain in the absence of Lewis Ludlow, was the best player on the pitch in my opinion. He controlled the pace of the game throughout, playing the full 80, and managed the game well particularly in the last 10 minutes when it seemed Bristol could come back. A beautiful kick to create Gareth Anscombe’s try sticks in my memory as proof that Williams can create something from nothing."

The Saracens prop is only just getting started in the Premiership, and looks like he could be Mark McCall's man to replace Mako Vunipola. "Rhys one of these young props, he's got all the potential in the world". McCall said in the post match media. "It's up to us to try to get that potential out of him." "He's had a really strong start to the season, there's a hell of a player in there."

The young hooker made his first Premiership start, having over a 90% success rate and got a try on the board as well. His power in the carry is one of the best in the league in his position, remember the name. Jibulu was one of Ruck's picks for the five England hopefuls who impressed in this week in the Premiership.

Joining Jibulu in our five uncapped England hopefuls who impressed, Gloucester tight-head Afolabi Fasogbon took the spotlight thanks to his battle with Ellis Genge. The two props had a real sparring match at scrum-time, with Fasogbon at times getting the upper hand of the far more experienced 'Baby Rhino'.

The Gloucester lock was solid at the set-piece throughout the contest, and added a well taken try to bolster his side's first half points tally. A workhorse on the defensive side of the ball, Thomas made a total of 15 tackles and was rarely seen away from the Cherry and White side of the breakdown battle.

Another try-scoring lock, Alex Coles crossed the whitewash in fine fashion to help the Saints towards their victory over Exeter Chiefs. The lock worked tirelessly on both sides of the ball, and is giving Steve Borthwick plenty to think about as he gets set to name his England squad for the upcoming Autumn Internationals.

Continuing on with his hot form he ignited at Newcastle, Guy Pepper has transfered the fire across to his new home in blue, black and white. Starring in the back row in Bath's win over Leicester Tigers, Pepper is formed quite the contingence alongside Alfie Barbeary and Josh Bayliss. Pepper added salt into the Leicester wounds with a try, that built towards the overall win for the Somerset club.

Ruck Harlequins Reporter George Davis was throughly impressed by Will Evans, who was dutifully awarded the Player of the Match Award. "England’s back row stocks have been stacked in recent years but how this man has never had a cap is beyond me. Top of the turnover stats for the 22/23 season and back up there again last year, one of the best tacklers in the league and a show of pace and footwork in the carry."

It would be a great shame if the speculation around Zach Mercer's Gloucester departure comes to fruition, as the back row was once again unstoppable in Cherry and White. Mercer topped the tackle charts with an impressive 19 hits, and also made 14 carries with the ball in hand. Had Wade not scored a hat-trick, Mercer would have likely taken home the Player of the Match Award.