Late drama in the Premiership

Editor

Three last minute tries gave Exeter and Bath victories at home whilst Wasps earned a credible draw at Gloucester. Harlequins poor recent form continued as they were thumped at home by Newcastle.

Exeter Chiefs 31-30 Northampton Saints

A late Thomas Waldrom try with the clock in the red ended Exeter's recent run of defeats and sent Northampton home deflated as they suffered defeat by a solitary point.

Exeter surrendered top spot recently and Rob Horne's early try looked to set the tone for what appeared to be another frustrating afternoon for the Chiefs. The Australian benefitted from a swift break down the left for Saints.

The home side hit back in typical fashion when a driving maul was hauled down illegally by the visitors resulting in a penalty try. Stephen Myler, a brief replacement for Piers Francis, kicked a penalty to briefly out Saints back in front before Alec Hepburn scored after consulting the TMO.

Ben Foden then pushed Northampton back into the ascendancy before the break when some excellent play saw the former England back score from a move that started in their own half.

Harry Mallinder gave the visitors the perfect start to the second period when he extended the lead to 24-14. Owing much to an excellent show and go from Francis who found Horne and then Mallinder.

Steenson and Francis exchanged penalties briefly with the latter of the two notching six points to Steenson's three. A Don Armand try, courtesy of some fluid play between both forwards and backs, reduced the gap to six and set up a tense finish.

That finish certainly came as the home side peppered the Saints try line and, with time up, Waldrom was the man to crash over thus allowing Joe Simmonds to kick the winning points.

The scorers:

For Exeter:
Tries: Penalty, Hepburn, Armand, Waldrom
Cons: Steenson, Simmonds 2
Pen: Steenson

For Northampton:
Tries: Horne, Foden, Mallinder
Cons: Francis 3
Pens: Francis 2, Myler

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Ian Whitten, 13 Ollie Devoto, 12 Sam Hill, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson (c), 9 Will Chudley, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Don Armand, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Sam Skinner, 3 Greg Holmes, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Alec Hepburn 
Replacements: 16 Jack Innard, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Marcus Street, 19 Mitch Lees, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Stu Townsend, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Phil Dollman

Northampton: 15 Harry Mallinder, 14 Ahsee Tuala, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Piers Francis, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Heinrich Brüssow, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Christian Day (c), 4 David Ribbans, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Campese Ma’afu 
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Michael Paterson, 20 Tom Wood, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Nafi Tuitavake

Referee: Christophe Ridley
Assistant referees:  Referees: Matthew O’Grady, Greg Macdonald
TMO: Keith Lewis

Gloucester 25-25 Wasps

A highly entertaining encounter between two sides with serious top four ambitions ended all square as Jimmy Gopperth's 81st minute conversion earned Wasps a 25-25 draw in the West Country.

The contest at Kingsholm appeared to be getting away from Wasps after Richard Hibbard and Charlie Sharples both score in the opening 40. The first came courtesy of a maul coming from a lineout and the second owing much to some great work from Jason Woodward.

Eight points from the boot of Billy Twelvetrees and six from Wasps centre Jimmy Gopperth made the score 18-6 at the break.

Two former Gloucester players now applying their trade in Coventry bought Dai Young's men straight back into the contest when first Dan Robson, and then Thomas Young both crossed to bring the scores level after Gopperth missed the second conversion.

Gloucester's Henry Trinder, playing today on the wing, then put the Cherry and Whites back in front by seven points with ten minutes remaining when Twlevetrees scored his second conversion of the day.

Johan Ackermann's side's impressive home record looked set to claim another scalp with time running out but Wasps, without many of their star individuals, refused to be beaten and when Christian Wade went over out wide Gopperth had an Exeter-like kick to tie the game.

As he did that day and as he did late in Toulouse last year, the New Zealander lashed it through the posts to earn Wasps a share of the spoils.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Hibbard, Sharples, Trinder
Cons: Twelvetrees 2
Pens: Twelvetrees 2

For Wasps:
Tries: Robson, Young, Wade
Cons: Gopperth 2
Pens: Gopperth 2

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14, Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Mark Atkinson, 11 Henry Trinder, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Callum Braley, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Jake Polledri, 5 Mariano Galarza, 4 Ed Slater (c), 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Josh Hohneck 
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu’u, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Fraser Balmain, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Freddie Clarke, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Matt Scott, 23 David Halaifonua

Wasps: 15 Willie Le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Josh Bassett, 10 Rob Miller, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Guy Thompson, 7 Thomas Young, 6 Ashley Johnson, 5 Will Rowlands, 4 James Gaskell (c), 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Tom Cruse, 1 Matt Mullan 
Replacements: 16 TJ Harris, 17 Simon McIntyre, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Kearnan Myall, 20 Ben Harris, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Brendan Macken, 23 Owain James

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Tim Wigglesworth, Wayne Falla
TMO: David Rose

Bath 33-32 Sale Sharks

A see-saw encounter in Somerset eventually saw Bath win 33-32 after James Wilson scored a conversion with a minute on the clock after Zach Mercer had gone over.

Wilson kicked two early penalties to put Bath 6-0 up before Denny Solomona was sent under the posts by scrum-half Faf de Klerk who notched the conversion to put Sale on top.

Solomona's wing colleague Marland Yarde scored shortly after thanks to some great play off a Sharks lineout to increase the gap to six points. Wilson and South African De Klerk traded penalties before Mercer put Todd Blackadder's side into the lead by a point.

Wilson kicked the conversion after some great work by Taulupe Faletau had sent the England apprentice over the whitewash. De Klerk then kicked two penalties to put Sale 21-16 up. Bath responded with another try when Josh Bayliss' effort was given after consultation with the TMO.

De Klerk kicked a further six points to Wilson's three to five Sale a narrow 27-26 lead heading into the final ten minutes. Solomona ensured that the visitors had their lead extended when he scored an excellent try.

With 79 minutes on the clock though, after some sustained pressure, Mercer scored his second of the contest to set up a grand stand finish for Wilson. The fly-half notched the conversion to give Bath the victory by one point and send the Sharks home with only a losing bonus point.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Mercer 2, Bayliss
Cons: Wilson 3
Pens: Wilson 4

For Sale:
Tries: Solomona 2, Yarde
Con: De Klerk
Pens: De Klerk 5

Bath: 15 Darren Atkins, 14 Aled Brew, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Cooper Vuna, 10 James Wilson, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Josh Bayliss, 6 Zach Mercer, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Matt Garvey (c), 3 Henry Thomas, 2 Ross Batty, 1 Beno Obano 
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Lucas Noguera, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Luke Charteris, 20 James Phillips, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Jack Wilson, 23 Tom Homer

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Will Addison (c), 12 Luke James, 11 Marland Yarde, 10 Sam James, 9 Faf De Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Andrei Ostrikov, 4 Josh Beaumont, 3 WillGriff John, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison 
Replacements: 16 Marc Jones, 17 James Flynn, 18 Alexandru Tarus, 19 George Nott, 20 Cameron Neild, 21 Will Cliff, 22 Josh Charnley 23 Cameron Redpath

Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant referees: Hamish Smales, Roy Maybank
TMO: Geoff Warren

Harlequins 10-28 Newcastle Falcons

Harlequins' poor recent run continued as they were beaten at home for the second time in a fortnight as Newcastle recorded a bonus point triumph.

With Dean Richards' side reigniting their play-off ambitions following a mid-season blip it was somewhat surprising when James Horwill scored early on to give Quins a 7-0 lead after Marcus Smith converted.

The away side bounced back through Callum Chick who eventually scored after several phases of pick and go. Flood, who kicked three conversions out of three, notched his first to bring the scores level.

A Marcus Smith penalty early in the second-half put the home side back into the lead before three Newcastle tries in 15 minutes decided the contest. Kyle Cooper was again the beneficiary of some forwards possession as he crossed from close range.

Chris Harris scored the Falcons third after a lineout turnover saw him score down the right and it was Sinoti Sinoti who landed the bonus point score when he was presented with a one-on-one contest that he dully appreciated. Joel Hodgson, on for the excellent Flood, slotted the conversion to make it a very worthwhile journey south for Newcastle.

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Try: Horwill
Con: Smith
Pen: Smith

For Newcastle:
Tries: Chick, Cooper, Harris, Sinoti
Cons: Flood 3, Hodgson

Harlequins: 15 Aaron Morris, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Alofa Alofa, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Jono Kitto, 8 James Chisholm, 7 Dave Ward, 6 Luke Wallace, 5 James Horwill (c), 4 Ben Glynn, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert 
Replacements: 16 Charlie Piper, 17 Cameron Holenstein, 18 Will Collier, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Archie White, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Demetri Catrakilis, 23 Tim Visser

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Josh Matavesi, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Michael Young, 8 Nili Latu, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Rob Vickers 
Replacements: 16 Santiago Socino, 17 Sam Lockwood, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Sean Robinson, 20 Callum Chick, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Maxime Mermoz

Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Philip Watters, Jonathan Healy
TMO: Trevor Fisher