Martin Crowson's five points from the Leicester Tigers v London Welsh match
Martin Crowson looks back at five key points from the opening weekend of the rugby season.
1 London Welsh will shock a few people during their debut season in the Aviva Premiership. Whether they will shock enough people to stay up is debatable. There is no shortage of passion or commitment among their squad on Sunday's evidence. They are short of strength in depth, however, and by round eight or nine, when injuries have kicked in, they will struggle. It will be a miracle if they stay up.
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Leicester Tigers v London Welsh
2 If London Welsh do go straight back down, a section of Leicester fans will be glad not to have to make the trip back to Oxford's Kassam Stadium after enduring a huge tailback on the way to Tigers' 38-13 win. Some fans left their cars on the side of the road, some missed a half and some just gave up and went home. It was clearly not good enough.
3 Expect to hear a cacophony of players from both sides asking for TMO involvement in any try that is scored this season under the new laws that are being trialled. If it is an important score, why not check if there was an infringement along the way? If Wayne Barnes' display at Twickenham on Saturday was anything to go by, the referees certainly will not turn down a request to give the TMO a shout to make sure they don't look stupid.
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4 You know you are at a rugby match when the only form of drink in the London Welsh press box on Sunday was beer. Welsh beer. Brains, to be specific. No water. No pop. Just beer.
5 It will come as no surprise that the intense rivalry between Northampton and Tigers stretches right down to reserves matches. Tigers were well and truly hammered at Franklin's Gardens on Monday night, but even when the 80 minutes were up, both sides chose to play on for two phases off of penalties, instead of kicking the ball out to end the game.
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