It had been almost eight years since London Irish had beaten Sale Sharks in the Gallagher Premiership. But they pulled off a 36-18 at home – in no small part down to a timely and bruising defensive intervention from centre Rory Jennings. Just look at his cover tackle below.

For context, this hit on Cobus Wiese came when Irish were just seven points ahead of Sale.

They would hold on, with academy product Tarek Haffar and sub James Stokes both crossing for late Irish scores.

So was the cover tackle above the most important moment of the game? Also, considering how much chat there has been lately about why cover tacklers need to ensure they use their arms rather than just going for the shoulder barge or push, this looks all the more impressive. And that’s before we look at the concept of getting your head on the right side of the tackle in order not to hurt yourself.

In the end it was a statement win for Irish. Meanwhile, after events across London the day before, when we witnessed the 53-10 demolition of England at Twickenham, some eyes will have been on a certain fly-half…

How did George Ford play?

It was disappointing for Sale to come away with nothing, but England hopeful George Ford came away unscathed.

Having spent last week training with England only to be released back to Sale, club director of rugby Alex Sanderson said of the fly-half post-match: “George will definitely go back and train with England. It looks like Steve’s got a really difficult job now – to rebuild or rotate. If I’m in his shoes I think you fall back to people you know and trust, and George ticks both of those boxes.”

Download the digital edition of Rugby World straight to your tablet or subscribe to the print edition to get the magazine delivered to your door.

Follow Rugby World on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.