After the opening few weeks of domestic rugby, Paul Williams picks out five storylines that have taken him by surprise
We’re a few rounds into the Gallagher Premiership, United Rugby Championship and Top 14 seasons, so let’s see who has delivered the unexpected…
Gloucester’s wide grin
Gloucester have started the season with two bonus point wins. (Photo by Dan Istitene/Getty Images)
There’s one statistic that is never recorded in professional rugby: the pre-season nervousness of each Gallagher Premiership fanbase. If it were, Gloucester supporters would make the play-offs for sure.
Outside Welsh regional rugby, few sets of fans display the same level of pre-season uncertainty. That feeling is not necessarily misplaced. Gloucester sit in English rugby’s traditional heartland, where the play-offs often feel as though they should be a given rather than a wish.
Yet, despite a few top-five finishes in recent years, the club’s overall trajectory has tended towards the sediment of the league rather than its frothy top.
This season could hardly have started more differently. After two games, Gloucester are top, with a points difference of +69 and two bonus points.
They beat Exeter 45-24 at Sandy Park before draining all the colour from Harlequins in a 48-0 home victory. Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan have arguably been the two best signings of the season and have reinforced the Gloucester pack enormously. If both can remain fit, a top-four finish is achievable. Well played, Gloucester.
Related: Get you copy of our Jac Morgan Gloucester special now!
Castres Olympique 7 – 8 Stade Toulousain
Castres v Toulouse was a low scoring affair (Photo by Valentine CHAPUIS / AFP via Getty Images)
It may seem odd to include a single result as an early-season surprise, particularly when Toulouse were the winners. But a scoreline this low is highly unusual in modern professional rugby.
Last season, the Top 14 averaged 58.7 points per match, the Gallagher Premiership 58.9 and the URC 51.3. Seeing two teams combine for fewer than 15 points therefore feels like a genuine rarity.
It was an atavistic throwback to rugby’s darker days, when a single-digit scoreline was worn as a badge of honour and celebrated as a glorious triumph of perseverance and fortitude – not just by the players, but by the supporters too. A strangely low-scoring match can, of course, be hugely entertaining, but that is unusual.
At the highest level, creating and finishing tries is the difficult part; defending is simple in comparison. As a rule, the more tries, the better. And don’t let anyone over the age of 65 tell you otherwise, because they will – ad infinitum.
Leinster winless
Leinster were beaten by the Sharks in week two. (Photo By Shaun Roy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
After two rounds of the URC, Leinster are winless. They lost 27-26 away to the Lions in round one and 26-20 away to the Sharks in round two.
Those defeats should, of course, come with an asterisk the size of the sun, because Leinster fielded experimental teams in both matches. You could not even call them ‘Diet Leinster’; they were well beyond that – this was Leinster on a water-and-lemon-juice fast. Even so, seeing Leinster lose twice in a row always feels strange.
The two-round tour of South Africa was not without its benefits. Leinster gave young scrum-half Fintan Gunne an opportunity at nine and Caspar Gabriel a chance at out-half, with Gunne scoring a hat-trick against the Lions in the bonus-point defeat.
If you are one of those people who love seeing Leinster lose, especially twice in a row, this may have been your last chance.
Read more: Here are all the upcoming fixtures from across the domestic leagues…
Sale stun Saracens
Ben Bamber of Sale Sharks scores his sides third try during the Gallagher PREM 2026/2027 match between Saracens and Sale Sharks at StoneX Stadium on October 04, 2026 in Barnet, England. (Photo by Alex Davidson/Getty Images for Sale Sharks)
It is political party conference season in the UK, with parties issuing statements designed to map out their progress over the next twelve months.
But if you want to see a real statement of intent for the months ahead, look no further than Sale’s round-two win over Saracens at StoneX Stadium.
Winning 21-17 after receiving one 20-minute red card and one yellow takes some doing. It was a performance built on resolute defence: Sale completed 86% of a sizeable 173 tackles. To illustrate the effort required to hold out Saracens while the cards were flying, outside centre Joe Marchant was required to make 20 tackles.
Add the constant threat of Tom O’Flaherty, who attacked from deep like a megalodon, and you have Sale’s blueprint for victory. Well played, Sale.
Sharks are quick of the mark
Eben Etzebeth of the Hollywoodbets Sharks during the United Rugby Championship match between Hollywoodbets Sharks and Leinster at Hollywoodbets Kings Park on October 03, 2026 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Steve Haag/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Sharks as a species are notoriously quick off the mark.
The shortfin mako has been recorded accelerating from a standing start to cover 100 feet (30.5 metres) in just two seconds, translating to a burst speed of more than 46 mph (74 km/h).
The same cannot be said of the Sharks of Durban in recent URC seasons. In their early URC campaigns and again in 2025/26, they struggled heavily in the opening rounds.
However, their current 2026/27 campaign marks their best-ever start, yielding back-to-back bonus-point home victories against the Ospreys and Leinster. Both wins have, of course, come at home, but it is still very promising to see the Sharks performing well in the opening rounds. Well played, Sharks.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: rugbyworld.com
