LV= Cup Friday Wrap

Editor

It was an evening for the away teams as Northampton, Saracens and Cardiff Blues all won on the road in the LV= Cup.

It was an evening for the away teams as Northampton, Saracens and Cardiff Blues all won on the road in the LV= Cup.

Saints and Sarries came away with wins in Wales, at the Scarlets and Ospreys respectively, while the Blues came from behind to beat Newcastle.

In the night’s other game, Harlequins saw off a dogged Dragons team to bounce back from last week’s loss at Saracens.

Results:
Scarlets 7-24 Northampton
Ospreys 9-21 Saracens
Harlequins 31-21 Dragons
Newcastle v Cardiff Blues


Scarlets 7-24 Northampton
Parc Y Scarlets

Northampton produced a dominant second-half performance to comfortably see off Scarlets 24-7 and make it two wins from two in the tournament.

The teams were evenly-matched in the first half, with Steff Evans cancelling out Howard Packman’s early try.

But after going in at 7-7 at the break, Saints cut loose in the second half, scoring 17 unanswered points.

After a Will Hooley penalty had put them back in front, replacement Lee Dickson went over on the hour, with Hooley’s conversion making it a ten-point lead.

Seven minutes later it was Calum Clark who burst over, and Hooley again added the extras to make the game safe.

Saints still had 13 minutes remaining to try to pick up a bonus point, but they couldn’t find that elusive fourth try.

However a comfortable win in Wales puts them in great position after two rounds of the competition so far.

The scorers:

For Scarlets:
Try: Evans
Con: Shingler

For Northampton:
Tries: Packman, Dickson, Clark
Cons: Hooley 3
Pen: Hooley

The teams:

Scarlets: 15 Steff Evans, 14 Jordan Williams, 13 Steffan Hughes, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Frazier Climo, 10 Steven Shingler, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Rory Pitman 7 James Davies, 6 Rob McCusker, 5 George Earle (c), 4 Shaun Jones, 3 Peter Edwards, 2 Kirby Myhill, 1 Phil John.
Replacements: 16 Ryan Elias, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Jacobie Adriaanse, 19 Phil Day, 20 Sion Bennett, 21 Rhodri Davies, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Aaron Warren.

Northampton: 15 James Wilson, 14 Howard Packman, 13 Tom Stephenson, 12 Dom Waldouck, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Will Hooley, 9 Joel Hodgson, 8 Jon Fisher, 7 Ben Nutley, 6 Phil Dowson (c), 5 Christian Day, 4 Alex Woolford, 3 Tom Mercey, 2 Ross Mcmillan, 1 Ethan Waller.
Replacements: 16 Matti Williams, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Salesi Ma’afu, 19 Calum Clark, 20 Teimana Harrison, 21 Lee Dickson, 22 Harry Mallinder, 23 Ben Foden.

Referee: Thomas Foley (England)
Assistant referees: Wayne Davies, Justin Williams


Ospreys 9-21 Saracens
Liberty Stadium

Ben Spencer kicked all the points for Sarries as they ground their way to victory at the Liberty Stadium.

The young scrum-half finished with 21 points as he kicked seven penalties in a tryless affair.

It wasn’t easy early on for Sarries, who lost winger George Perkins to a yellow card midway through the first half, with Sam Davies keeping the Ospreys very much in touch with two early penalties of his own.

However Spencer finished the half with a total of four penalties to give the visitors a 12-6 lead, and they were able to build on that after the break.

Despite a Davies three-pointer bringing the Ospreys back to within three with 25 minutes remaining, that was as good as it got for them.

Spencer added three more penalties, and ensured that Sarries picked up a second successive win after their opening success against Quins.

The scorers:

For Ospreys:
Pens: Davies 3
Yellow Card: Thomas

For Saracens:
Pens: Spencer 7
Yellow Card: Perkins

The teams:

Ospreys: 15 Richard Fussell, 14 Dafydd Howells, 13 Ashley Beck, 12 Aled Jenkins, 11 Aisea Natoga, 10 Sam Davies, 9 Tom Habberfield (c), 8 Ifereimi Boladau, 7 Lloyd Evans, 6 Jordan Collier, 5 Rhodri Hughes, 4 Rory Thornton, 3 Daniel Suter, 2 Scott Otten, 1 Gareth Thomas.
Replacements: 16 Matthew Dwyer, 17 Marc Thomas, 18 Nicky Thomas, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Tommy Spinks, 21 Tito Tebaldi, 22 Hanno Dirksen, 23 Ashley Evans.

Saracens: 15 Will Edwards, 14 Jack Wilson, 13 Nick Tompkins, 12 Thretton Palamo, 11 George Perkins, 10 Nils Mordt, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Nick De Jager, 7 Matt Hankin, 6 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 5 Maro Itoje (c), 4 Hayden Smith, 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Brett Sharman, 1 Jack Culverhouse.
Replacements: 16 Josh Taylor, 17 Ralph Adams-Hale, 18 Sebastien Ferreira, 19 Kennet O’Neil, 20 Ben Featherstone, 21 Tom Whiteley, 22 Max Wilkins, 23 Matt Gallagher.

Referee: Matthew Carley (England)
Assistant referees: Rob Price (Wales), Jon Mason (Wales)


Harlequins 31-21 Dragons
The Stoop

Harlequins didn’t have it all their own way but eventually they had enough to see off the Dragons thanks to a double from James Chisholm.

After naming an all-English qualified 23, Quins took an early lead through winger Ollie Lindsay-Hague.

Tim Swiel, playing his first game for the club since signing a short-term deal from the Sharks, missed the conversion and the Dragons hit back with two tries in quick succession.

Jon Evans and James Thomas were the scorers, with Dorian Jones converting the second, to put his team into a 12-5 lead.

Swiel notched his first points of the evening soon after but when Jones slotted three penalties in the last ten minutes of the first-half, it looked as if the Dragons might run away with it.

Trailing 21-8, Quins needed a reaction and they got it from number eight Chisholm, who went over seven minutes into the second half.

Swiel had already slotted his second penalty, and added a drop goal to cut the lead to three.

Two more penalties from the South African-born fly-half put Quins back in front, before Chisholm went over for his second try 11 minutes from time.

Swiel converted to bring his own tally to 16 for the evening and from there the Dragons had no answer.

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Lindsay-Hague, Chisholm 2
Cons: Swiel 2
Pens: Swiel 4

For Dragons:
Tries: Evans, Thomas
Cons: D Jones
Pens: D Jones 3
Yellow Cards: Dee

The teams:

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Charlie Walker, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Jordan Turner-Hall, 11 Ollie Lindsay-Hague, 10 Tim Swiel, 9 Karl Dickson (c), 8 James Chisholm, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Joe Trayfoot, 5 Sam Twomey, 4 Charlie Matthews, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Rob Buchanan, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Darryl Marfo, 18 Will Collier, 19 George Merrick, 20 Henry Cheeseman, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Louis Grimoldby, 23 Tom Casson.

Dragons: 15 Geraint Rhys Jones, 14 Ashton Hewitt, 13 Matthew Pewtner, 12 Ross Wardle, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Dorian Jones, 9 Jonathan Evans, 8 Andy Powell, 7 James