Late win for Gloucester, Tigers beat Newcastle

There was a dramatic win for Gloucester at Bath while Leicester were too strong for Newcastle in the two Premiership games on Sunday.

Bath 21-22 Gloucester

Ed Slater's late try, converted by Owen Williams, helped Gloucester defeat local rivals Bath 22-21 at the Recreation Ground on Sunday.

Willi Heinz grabbed a brace for the Cherry and Whites while Semesa Rokoduguni also scored two for Bath before Slater's late crossing handed Gloucester their fourth victory of the Premiership season and Bath a third loss.

A close-fought opening half saw Bath go in 8-5 to the good, this after they went behind as early as the fifth minute against their visitors.

Gloucester hit the ground running with a scintillating try set up by Henry Trinder seeing Heinz dummy before diving over for a 5-0 buffer.

But Bath responded in the 14th minute when a Jonathan Joseph run led to Anthony Watson finding Rokoduguni who levelled the contest.

Priestland nudged the hosts three points ahead soon after and that was how it stayed going into the dressing rooms in this local derby.

Williams and Priestland traded penalties inside the first 10 minutes of the second-half to make it 8-8 as the game continued to be tight.

Then came a brilliant offload from Gloucester tighthead prop John Afoa, which set up Heinz for his second try, as the visitors led 15-11.

But a penalty from Priestland cut the gap to one point before Rokoduguni grabbed his second try with four minutes left, following good work from Taulupe Faletau, as the hosts put their noses in front at 21-15, which looked like being enough to hang on for the four points.

However, a last-minute try from Slater handed Williams a chance to win the match for Gloucester, which he slotted for a dramatic triumph.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Rokoduguni 2
Con: Priestland
Pens: Priestland 3

For Gloucester:
Tries: Heinz 2, Slater
Cons: Williams 2
Pen: Williams

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Zach Mercer, 5 Charlie Ewels (c), 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Nathan Catt 
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 Matt Garvey, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Josh Lewis, 23 Aled Brew

Gloucester: 15 Billy Burns, 14 Henry Purdy, 13 Henry Trinder, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 David Halaifonua, 10 Owen Williams, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ben Morgan 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Ruan Ackermann, 5 Ed Slater, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Motu Matu'u, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Jeremy Thrush, 20 Jacob Rowan, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Andy Symons, 23 Ollie Thorley

Referee: Tom Foley
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Paul Dix
TMO: Stuart Terheege

Newcastle Falcons 13-30 Leicester Tigers

Leicester won their fifth match of the Premiership season as they pulled clear of Newcastle to win 30-13 at a sold-out Kingston Park.

Tries from Telusa Veainu, Ben Youngs and Jonny May saw them to the four points, with Vereniki Goneva crossing for the home outfit.

Leicester raced out of the blocks and were 14-3 up after the first quarter with Veainu's hot stepping score and a crossing from scrum-half Youngs putting them in a strong position. In reply former Leicester Tigers fly-half Toby Flood got the Falcons on the board off the tee.

But crucially for the hosts they scored before half-time as Alex Tait's inside ball set up another former Tiger, Goneva, to make it 14-10.

Flood and Ford traded a penalty apiece early in the second-half to make it 17-13 to Leicester, with the Falcons then pressing in the 22.

But Ford pushed Leicester into a seven-point lead on 66 minutes meaning Newcastle required two scores to win the game and the England star then added his third penalty of the game four minutes later to push Tigers into what looked like an unassailable 23-13 advantage.

And the result was sewn up when May continued his fine try-scoring form by crossing the whitewash as Leicester ran out 30-13 winners.

The scorers:

For Newcastle:
Try: Goneva
Con: Flood
Pens: Flood 2

For Leicester:
Tries: Veainu, B Youngs, May
Cons: Ford 3
Pens: Ford 3

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Alex Tait, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Nili Latu, 7 Will Welch (c), 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Rob Vickers 
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Will Witty, 20 Ally Hogg, 21 Michael Young, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Maxime Mermoz

Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Mathew Tait, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Valentino Mapapalangi, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Dom Barrow, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Ellis Genge 
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Greg Bateman, 18 Pat Cilliers, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Luke Hamilton, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Adam Thompstone

Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant referees: Peter Allan, Hamish Smales
TMO: Sean Davey