Gallagher Premiership team of the weekend, Round 1: Newcastle shine on top flight return

The Gallagher Premiership is back and, if you're honest, you probably barely missed it such has been the short gap between last season's final and the start of the 2020-21 campaign.

Here are the standout performers from the opening weekend.

15 Piers O’Conor (Bristol Bears)

Killer finish to Sunday’s game for O’Conor when Josh Bassett (more on him later) slipped out of his tackle to create the matchwinner, but before that O’Conor was superb, beating five defenders and making over 90 metres for a Bristol side missing plenty of players who put up a big fight at Wasps.

14 Adam Radwan (Newcastle Falcons)

Rapid pace as advertised. Radwan scorched down the wing in the build-up to Gary Graham’s first score and after bagging tons of tries in the RFU Championship looks full of confidence. Beat four defenders and defended well with six tackles. A mention for Exeter’s Tom O’Flaherty, who was busy at Harlequins.

13 Jaco Taute (Leicester Tigers)

Set up Kobus van Wyk and was heavily involved in Richard Wigglesworth’s try too as Leicester wiped the floor with Gloucester. It was a throwback to how effective Taute was during his Munster days. Worcester’s Oli Morris caught the eye as well.

12 Francois Venter (Worcester Warriors)

Huge work-rate from the seven-cap Springbok, which he normally delivers, finishing the one-point win over London Irish with 13 carries, beating four defenders with a couple of clean breaks. Look forward to seeing him reunited with Ollie Lawrence after the Test window. Sale’s Rohan Janse van Rensburg beat six defenders, but, missed five tackles.

11 Josh Bassett (Wasps)

Wasps head coach Lee Blackett told Telegraph Sport after the win over Bristol that Bassett has kicked on over the last six months and is someone who “maximises his potential”. His strike-rate is excellent, with a try every three games in the Premiership over the past two seasons. Simon Hammersley finished well on the wing for Sale while Ollie Hassell-Collins has started the season where he left off for London Irish, with three breaks and beating four Worcester defenders.

10 AJ MacGinty (Sale Sharks)

Audacious dummy to coast over for Sale and he came up with a fine wide pass too to set up Hammersley’s try in the corner, as the USA fly-half made a great start to the campaign. Newcastle’s Brett Connon also came up with a cracking assist for wing Ben Stevenson.

9 Richard Wigglesworth (Leicester Tigers)

Always felt like a savvy signing and the former Sale and Saracens scrum-half made an instant impact, freeing Taute to set up Van Wyk for the opening try and then scoring himself against Gloucester. Not done yet. Harry Randall sniped well for Bristol against Wasps.

1 Ethan Waller (Worcester Warriors)

Busy shift for Exeter’s Alec Hepburn against Harlequins, making 11 carries before he departed, but Waller topped him in the win over the Exiles by beating three defenders and also weighing in with nine tackles.

2 Akker van der Merwe (Sale Sharks)

I mean, do you want to tackle him? Up there with the most explosive ball-carriers in the Premiership, after thundering over off a set play for Sale to get the ball rolling against Northampton. He then also produced a brilliant assist by offloading for Daniel du Preez to score.

3 Nick Schonert (Worcester Warriors)

London Irish loosehead prop Harry Elrington was subbed off by Declan Kidney after 31 minutes, having given up three penalties. It’s fair to say that Schonert put Elrington through the wringer at scrum time.

4 Greg Peterson (Newcastle Falcons)

Huge effort from the Falcons upfront away at Bath and the USA lock embodied that with a dozen carries - with a couple of offloads thrown in there - plus eight tackles and also eight lineout takes too. That work-rate will be needed every week.

5 Don Armand (Exeter Chiefs)

Formed a new-look lock partnership for the champions with Jonnys Gray and Hill plus Sam Skinner away, and it worked well alongside Will Witty, with Armand winning five lineouts and also a steal as Exeter dominated Harlequins. Also weighed in with 10 tackles.

6 Jack Willis (Wasps)

Lots of competition here from Exeter’s Dave Ewers, Bristol’s Chris Vui and Newcastle’s Sean Robinson, but it has to be Willis, released by England and instantly turning in a player of the match performance for Wasps with a couple of penalty-winning turnovers and also a try. Wanted to “rip in”, according to Blackett, and duly did so.

7 Gary Graham (Newcastle Falcons)

Perhaps the performance of the week. The two-cap Scotland international put himself back in the shop window for Gregor Townsend with a brutal performance, scoring two tries and racking up 23 carries against Bath. He made over 50 metres and beat four defenders too.

8 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs)

Easy pick. A hat-trick to kick off the season for Simmonds, who has been close to finishing as the Premiership’s top try scorer twice before in 2017-18 (with 12) and last season with 10. Maybe this is the year. He’s a joy to watch and the pace he showed for his first score - this is a player don’t forget who suffered a serious knee injury in 2018 - was exceptional.