Worcester stun Leicester, Bath and Sale win

Editor

Worcester stunned Leicester when they beat them at Welford Road on Saturday, Bath continued with their superb form with a home win over Harlequins while Sale edged Northampton in the three Premiership matches played on Saturday.

Bath 38-14 Harlequins
The Recreation Ground

Tries from Paul Grant, Freddie Burns, Elliot Stooke and Matt Banahan proved too much for Harlequins who scored through Henry Cheeseman and Gabriel Ibitoye.

Bath were full value for their win as they held the upper hand in most facets of play and they had a deserved 29-7 lead at half-time.

The home side got on the scoreboard with just two minutes gone. Bath flanker Zach Mercer made a wonderful break before offloading inside to Grant to get over the line. Burns added the extras.

Harlequins flanker James Chisholm was then shown a yellow card for a reckless tackle on Bath scrum-half Kahn Fotuali’i in the ninth minute.

Soon after, the hosts had immediately capitalised on their numerical advantage when Burns dotted down in the left-hand corner after the ball was shifted out to the left where Bath took advantage of their superior numbers.

Just three minutes later, with only four minutes gone, Bath had extended their lead to 19-0 with their third try of the game as skipper Matt Garvey made the break down the left flank before going outside for Stooke to bundle over.

And by the 20th minute the home side had racked up a remarkable 26 points when Fotuali'i made the break before the ball was shifted to Banahan who dotted down. Burns added his third conversion successfully.

Quins responded five minutes before the break when Cheeseman crashed over from first receiver with scrum-half Jono Kitto providing the assist and James Lang the conversion.

Burns ensured the hosts had the last laugh of the first half with a penalty after Quins were penalised for a high tackle.

The second half was a tighter affair although Burns extended Bath's lead when he slotted his second penalty midway through the half. Three minutes later, Quins reduced the deficit courtesy of a well taken try from Ibitoye, after a strong sprint from inside his half.

Lang added the extras but Bath made sure of the result courtesy of two late penalties from Josh Lewis.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries:
Grant, Burns, Stooke, Banahan
Cons: Burns 3
Pens: Burns 2, Lewis

For Harlequins:
Tries:
Cheeseman, Ibitoye
Cons: Lang 2
Yellow Card: Chisholm

Bath: 15 James Wilson, 14 Jack Wilson, 13 Matt Banahan, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Paul Grant, 7 Zach Mercer, 6 Matt Garvey (c), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Levi Douglas, 20 Josh Bayliss, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Darren Atkins

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 Alofa Alofa, 12 James Lang, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jono Kitto, 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 James Chisholm, 6 Ben Glynn, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Will Collier, 2 Dave Ward, 1 Lewis Boyce
Replacements: 16 Elia Elia, 17 Cameron Holenstein, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Archie White, 21 Ian Prior, 22 Henry Cheeseman, 23 Gabriel Ibitoye

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant referees: Andrew Jackson, Philip Watters
TMO: David Rose

Leicester Tigers 27-31 Worcester Warriors
Welford Road, Leicester

Worcester Warriors continued their recent revival when they claimed a shock 31-27 win over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.

The visitors dominated for large periods and eventually outscored the Tigers five tries to three with Josh Adams leading the way with a deserved brace.

The Warriors made a terrific start and raced into a 12-0 lead inside the opening 10 minutes courtesy of tries from Alafoti Faosiliva and Adams.

Faosiliva crossed the whitewash off the back of a lineout drive in the fourth minute and although Chris Pennell missed with the conversion attempt, they extended their lead three minutes later when Adams capitalised on a perfectly-weighted grubber kick from Ryan Mills before dotting down.

Pennell added the extras before the Tigers finally found their mojo midway through the half and after taking the ball through several phases, Mike Fitzgerald found himself in space before diving over in the left-hand corner.

Joe Ford converted before slotting a penalty five minutes later which meant Worcester held a slender 12-10 lead by the half-hour mark. The Warriors extended their lead in the 38th minute – Adams showing great strength, determination and agility before crossing for his second try.

Pennell succeeded with the conversion but Leicester struck back on the stroke of half-time when Sam Harrison crossed for a deserved try and Ford converted which meant the Warriors led 19-17 at half-time.

Like the first half, Worcester were fastest out of the blocks after the restart and they extended their lead in the 45th minute when Jack Singleton rounded off after Bryce Heem did well in the build-up.

The Warriors were dealt a blow in the 63rd minute, however, when Nick Schonert was yellow carded after the team received several warnings prior to that for repeated defensive infringements inside their 22.

Ford slotted the resulting penalty which narrowed the gap to six points but Worcester went further ahead in the 72nd minute when Mills barged over from close quarters for his side's fifth try.

The Tigers fought back when Gareth Owen broke through a ruck before crossing for a try in the 79th minute and although Ford succeeded with the conversion, the visitors held on for a memorable win.

The scorers:

For Leicester:
Tries:
Fitzgerald, Harrison, Owen
Cons: Ford 3
Pens: Ford 2

For Worcester:
Tries:
Faosiliva, Adams 2, Singleton, Mills
Cons: Pennell 2, Lance
Yellow Card: Schonert

Leicester: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Adam Thompstone, 10 Joe Ford, 9 Sam Harrison (c), 8 Valentino Mapapalangi, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Mike Fitzgerald, 3 Pat Cilliers, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Greg Bateman
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Chris Baumann, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Will Evans, 21 Ben White, 22 Tom Hardwick, 23 Mathew Tait

Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Jono Lance, 9 Francois Hougaard, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Alafoti Faosiliva, 5 Will Spencer, 4 Donncha O‘Callaghan (c), 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ethan Waller
Replacements: 16 Kurt Haupt, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 20 David Denton, 21 Michael Dowsett, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Dean Hammond

Referee: Greg Macdonald
Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Simon McConnell
TMO: Mark Lewis

Sale Sharks 18-15 Northampton
AJ Bell Stadium

Sale picked up just their third victory of the Premiership campaign as they came from behind to defeat Northamton at the AJ Bell Stadium.

These four points are priceless for the Sharks as they were being sucked into the relegation dogfight with Worcester and London Irish.

For Northampton this loss leaves them off the pace of the top five teams in the league as they go home with just a losing bonus-point.

Saints led 12-10 at the break thanks to tries from scrum-half Cobus Reinach and number eight Teimana Harrison in the 13th and 21s minute. In reply the Sharks pulled themselves back to within those two points thanks to livewire number nine Faf de Klerk's 38th-minute crossing.

Four minutes into the second-half Sale put themselves into the lead when flank Ben Curry scored an unconverted try to make it 15-12.

But Northampton full-back Harry Mallinder levelled on 55 minutes before they lost Ben Foden to the sin-bin – their third yellow card of the contest – which once again left them with a numerical disadvantage at the AJ Bell Stadium.

Will Cliff slotted the key penalty following Foden's yellow and 18-15 was how it stayed as Sale celebrate what is a much-needed victory.

The scorers:

For Sale:
Tries: De Klerk, Curry
Con: De Klerk
Pens: De Klerk, Cliff

For Northampton:
Tries: Reinach, Harrison
Con: Mallinder
Pen: Mallinder
Yellow Cards: Paterson, Ford-Robinson, Foden

Sale: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 James O’Connor, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (c), 5 Andre Ostrikov, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 George Nott, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Rohan van Rensburg, 23 Will Addison

Northampton: 15 Harry Mallinder, 14 Juan Pablo Estelles, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Tom Stephenson, 11 Ben Foden, 10 James Grayson, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Tom Wood, 5 Sam Dickinson (c), 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Alex Moon, 20 Mitch Eadie, 21 Nic Groom, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Tom Collins

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: John Meredith, Wayne Falla
TMO: Trevor Fisher