"Two Bath Stars" - 5 England Hopefuls Who Impressed in Round Eight of the Premiership

Sale travelled down to London for their Friday Night clash with Harlequins, and were emphatically beaten by the hosts. Quins' talisman Marcus Smith stole the show, and staked his claim for a return to the England 10 jersey in Owen Farrell's absence, as he led his side to a 36-3 win at the Twickenham Stoop. Sale remain at the top of the table, with Bath in hot pursuit after their impressive win against Exeter Chiefs.

Bath ran out blockbuster showing in this West Country match-up, and curtailed the Chiefs recent run of form. The men in black, white and blue racked up a strong 41-24 score-line against their Devonshire visitors, with Chiefs centre Henry Slade narrowly missing out on this Top 5 despite a strong showing at the Recreation Ground. This was followed by another West Country battle, as Bristol Bears and Gloucester lit up a bitingly cold Saturday afternoon with a 77-point classic.

Bristol tore the house down at Ashton Gate, as they tallied up a 51-26 win over their Cherry and White neighbours. Bristol winger Max Malins got this high-scoring match-up underway, and is too an honourable mention for the top five England contenders who impressed across the weekend. The action then headed back down to London, as Northampton Saints secured a historic win over Saracens at the Stone X. Sarries were without their captain Farrell, and talented young Saints fly-half Fin Smith kept the score-board ticking over, for a 12-18 away win.

Sunday's match featured a one-sided contest at Welford Road, as Leicester Tigers handed Newcastle Falcons a 47-3 hammering. The one-way traffic was a real statement of intent from the Tigers, as they continue to climb up the rungs of the Premiership. So, with round eight of the Premiership in the books ahead of two weeks of Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competition, here are the Top 5 England hopefuls who impressed over the weekend.

Will Joseph begins this list of impressive England hopefuls, as the former London Irish man has settled in nicely to his new home at Harlequins. The former West London rival to Harlequins fans, the Twickenham Stoop faithful have since been singing Jospeh's name, with another inspired showing in their Friday night win against Sale Sharks. Joseph grabbed two tries against Sale, and threw his hat into the ring for future England contention.

The 21-year-old has two England caps to his name, and is pushing for a his first appearence since the 2022 Summer tour of Australia. Joseph scored back-to-back tries to close out the evening at the Stoop, with his first score seeing him combine with Harlequins' flying back-three talents. After Cadan Murley made a break along the left touchline, the wing found the supporting line of Tyrone Green, who then shipped the pass on to Joseph for an unopposed yet impressive finish.

Joseph's second try came in the closing 10 minutes, after Harlequins had exhausted Sale's defensive resilency with a series of short pick and drives. Quins looked out wide, with the replacement halfback duo of Will Porter and Jarrod Evans linking up, to send the ball out to Joseph on the left wing. The outside centre still had plenty of work today, and bounced over titanic lock Jonny Hill, before he muscled his way through Tom Roebuck's tackle attempt to score.

Bath scrum half Ben Spencer is the first of two star performances in blue, black and white, that have made their way onto our list, following top outings over the weekend. Spencer has had an excellent first eight weeks in the Gallagher Premiership, and heads into the Champions Cup break with five tries all together. Despite not seeing an England jersey since the 2019 Rugby World Cup Final, Spencer's top showings in the West Country should have caught the eye of Steve Borthwick by now.

Spencer distributed Finn Russell with excellent quick-ball, as the halfbacks interlinked to tear through the Exeter Chiefs defence. Spencer was ever-ready to supply the ammunition to his first receiver, yet his starring moment at the Rec saw him go alone and back his pace. The 31-year-old picked the ball from the back of a scrum, and expertly sold the dummy before cutting back and attacking the blindside. Spencer squared up to the covering Josh Hodge, and forced the winger to commit to the tackle.

Spencer then flung a nice pass out wide to Joe Cokanasiga, who exploded along the left touchline. The winger skipped passed the covering tackle of Stu Townsend, before a nice inside pop pass found Spencer's supporting line, who wrapped up a well-worked try. Spencer has long been overlooked for international duties, yet remains eligible for England whilst the likes of his 2019 Japan colleagues Ben Youngs and Willi Heinz have called time on their test match tenures. A return to the England fold could be in Spencer's near future, if he continues in such fine form for Bath.

We stick with the scrum-halves for the next entry, as Harry Randall had a stunning performance for Bristol Bears last weekend. Randall had a starring role in the West Country triumph over Gloucester, and set Ashton Gate alight with some high-octane attacking play. Randall scored twice in the win against the Cherry and Whites, with his first score coming at a time of constant pressure for the visitors. Randall perfectly sold the dummy to Dan Thomas, which revealed a gap in the Gloucester line that he skipped through, to score the Bears' third try in the opening 25 minutes.

Randall's second score was even more impressive, and presented his skillset from the boot. Randall caught the Gloucester defence off-guard following a penalty, and sent a neat chip and chase into the back-field. The speedster was able to regather the ball, and strode over to score a classy solo try which put the game beyond all doubt. Randall also presented his status amongst Bristol's leadership group for the second half, as he took over the reins at captaincy, in the absence of a withdrawn Fitz Harding.

We have to give an honourable mention to Harry Thacker, who's barn-storming performance saw him become the all-time leading Bristol Bears try scorer. Thacker crossed over for his 35th Bristol try from the back of a rolling maul, as the Bears capitalised on the extra man advantage following Ruan Ackermann's dismissal. Thacker put in quite the shift, and ended the round as joint-first for metres made, clocking up 91m alongside his Gloucester opponent Louis Rees-Zammit.

The narrative heading into this match focussed around Fin Smith, as the promising Northampton Saints fly half looked to state his claim for Owen Farrell's England vacancy. However, as the match progressed against a Farrell-less Saracens, Fin Smith's performance was overshadowed by a stunning run out from Saints' centre Fraser Dingwall. The 24-year-old was relentless in defence, making hit after hit on the international talents amongst the Saracens arsenal.

Dingwall rose to the occasion and stopped what seemed to be a certain Saracens try, and also created one for Northampton with an excellent piece of footballing skill. Dingwall went to the boot in the Sarries 22m, and sent a neat cross field kick directly to Ollie Sleightholme, who was waiting on the right touch-line. Slightholme strolled over to score one of the easier tries of his career, with the plaudits firmly with Dingwall for the assist.

Dingwall's had hitting defensive work-rate, and free-flowing creativity in attack has put the England midfield on notice. Henry Slade looked set-up for a return to the England squad, and seemed primed to slot straight into the vacated 13 jersey left by Joe Marchant. However, Dingwall's performance in the win over Saracens has amped up the competition, for the places amongst Steve Borthwick's centres in the 2024 Six Nations.

5. Alfie Barbeary - Bath Rugby

Alfie Barbeary rounds off our picks this week, and is the second Bath player in our Top 5 of impressive England hopefuls. Barbeary looks close to the complete package at number eight, offering a relentless go-forward in attack, and a physically imposing presence in defence. His set-piece has certainly progressed since joining Bath, following the financial collapse of Worcester Warriors back in October of last year.

Barbeary showcased his formidable forward drive in the early goings, after an initial rolling maul was halted by Exeter. Barbeary spun off the stalemated maul, and drove over alone for the opening score after just six minutes. The 23-year-old had not scored in the Premiership since the opening day victory against Newcastle Falcons, but added two against the Chiefs, with Bath finding top gear at the Rec. Barbeary showed great awareness for his second try, as he spotted a gap in the line and picked through from the back of a ruck.

Barbeary charged away downfield, and with a rapid motor for a man of his build, begun celebrating before he'd even grounded the ball. The back-row capped off the score with a nice dive over the line, before he was mobbed by his Bath teammates. Ben Spencer certainly had an influence in this try, with his NFL quarter-back like faking possession at the ruck, which diverted the attention away from Barbeary, who capitalised for the try.