Wins for Bristol, Gloucester, Newcastle and Saracens

Editor

There were wins for Bristol, Gloucester, Newcastle and Saracens in the four Round Nine Premiership matches played on Saturday.

Bristol 41-10 Leicester

Bristol Bears picked up their third win of the Premiership season with a 41-10 victory over struggling Leicester Tigers at Ashton Gate on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Leicester have lost three on the trot for the first time since 2017. They still have only one away win in the Premiership to their name this season.

Kyle Eastmond’s 25th minute red card swayed the match in favour of the home side, who scored through Luke Morahan, Harry Randall and a Harry Thacker brace. Manu Tuilagi dotted down for Leicester.

Thacker gave the home side a dream start, dotting down two minutes after he broke the Tigers’ defensive line with ease. Ian Madigan converted and extended the lead seven minutes later to 10-0 with a penalty.

However, England star Tuilagi hit back for the visitors in the 16th minute, sneaking himself through the Bears defence after picking the ball up at the base of the ruck 25 metres out before weaving his way through the last line of defence to dive over and score.

In the 24th minute, Leicester were reduced to 14 men when Eastmond was red-carded for a high tackle on Madigan, who added the three from the penalty. John Afoa then saw yellow for the Bears as the playing numbers were levelled for 10 minutes.

George Ford clawed back a penalty to make it 13-10. But another Madigan penalty as well as a converted try from Thacker would ensure the hosts would take a 21-10 lead into the interval.

After the break, Bristol continued to dominate proceedings and their backline showed good hands to release Australian winger Morahan in the right-hand corner in the 44th minute.

Bristol scrum-half Randall got himself on the try column five minutes later with his quick tap and go from the penalty. Madigan added the extras to make it 35-10 with half an hour to go.

Two further Madigan penalties took Bristol’s lead out to 41-10 with 20 to go. And that’s how it remained until the final whistle, with Bristol breaking their seven-match losing streak against Leicester.

The scorers:

For Bristol:
Tries: Thacker 2, Morahan, Randall
Cons: Madigan 3
Pens: Madigan 5
Yellow Card: Afoa

For Leicester:
Try: Tuilagi
Con: Ford
Pen: Ford
Red Card: Eastmond

Bristol Bears: 15 Charles Piutau, 14 Luke Morahan, 13 Will Hurrell, 12 Siale Piutau (cc), 11 Alapati Leiua, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Harry Randall, 8 Jordan Crane (cc), 7 George Smith, 6 Steve Luatua, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Joe Joyce, 3 John Afoa, 2 Harry Thacker, 1 Yann Thomas
Replacements: 16 Shaun Malton, 17 Jake Woolmore, 18 Lewis Thiede, 19 Ed Holmes, 20 Dan Thomas, 21 Andy Uren, 22 Callum Sheedy, 23 Piers O’Conor

Leicester Tigers: 15 Jonah Holmes, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Kyle Eastmond, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford (c), 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Brendon O’Connor, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Will Spencer, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Jake Kerr, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 Facundo Gigena, 18 Gaston Cortes, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Mike Fitzgerald, 21 Ben White, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Matt Smith

Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson, Paul Dix
TMO: Trevor Fisher

Gloucester 36-16 Worcester Warriors

Gloucester got back to winning ways with a 36-16 victory over Worcester Warriors at Kingsholm on Saturday.

After their 23-6 reversal to Exeter last weekend, Johan Ackermann will be delighted with this result.

James Hanson gave the hosts a 13th minute lead with a try off the back of a five-metre driving maul. Soon after, the Cherry and Whites got the maul going again, as the ball was spread wide to Owen Williams and Danny Cipriani who put Jason Woodward in space and he offloaded for a simple finish for winger Charlie Sharples.

Worcester Warriors fly-half Duncan Weir slotted two penalties in quick succession to cut the deficit to four at 10-6. Another penalty from Weir in the 34th minute would ensure the hosts took just a one-point lead into the interval.

But Gloucester would assert their superiority after the break. Five minutes after the interval, Ollie Thorley stepped past his defender nicely for a good finish after being set up by Williams.

A couple of moments later, Freddie Clarke ran an unstoppable short line, crashing over for the hosts’ fourth. Worcester full-back Chris Pennell was shown a yellow card with 20 minutes to go, further swaying the momentum in the hosts’ favour.

The Cherry and Whites capitalised on their numerical advantage instantaneously with new recruit Jaco Visagie powering over at the back of another well-worked driving maul before Thorley grabbed his brace after slick hands from the hosts’ backline.

Bryce Heem finally got Worcester on the try column when the winger burst through a gap to make it 36-16. But that would be a mere consolation try as the hosts closed out a convincing victory.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Hanson, Sharples, Thorley 2, Clarke, Visagie
Cons: Twelvetrees 3

For Worcester:
Try: Heem
Con: Weir
Pens: Weir 3
Yellow Card: Pennell

Gloucester: 15 Jason Woodward, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Billy Twelvetrees, 12 Owen Williams, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Willi Heinz (c), 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Jaco Kriel, 6 Freddie Clarke, 5 Ed Slater, 4 Tom Savage, 3 Fraser Balmain, 2 James Hanson, 1 Josh Hohneck
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Val Rapava Ruskin, 18 Ciaran Knight, 19 Franco Mostert, 20 Jake Polledri, 21 Callum Braley, 22 Henry Trinder, 23 Tom Hudson

Worcester: 15 Chris Pennell, 14 Bryce Heem, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Ryan Mills, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Michael Heaney, 8 GJ van Velze (c), 7 Matti Williams, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Pierce Phillips, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Nick Schonert, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Callum Black
Replacements: 16 Niall Annett, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Darren Barry, 20 Matt Cox, 21 Jonny Arr, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Wynand Olivier

Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant Referees: Tim Wigglesworth, Philip Watters
TMO: David Rose

Northampton Saints 14-16 Newcastle Falcons

Newcastle Falcons made it three successive victories at Franklin’s Gardens with a last-gasp 16-14 victory over Northampton Saints on Saturday.

Northampton conceded a couple of penalties, the second of which Toby Flood capitalised upon to give the visitors an early 3-0 lead. There were no further scores for the next 20 minutes, with the Saints playing some attractive rugby in and around the 22, with Ahsee Tuala particularly prominent.

Flood doubled the away side’s advantage in the 26th minute after Northampton were penalised at the breakdown. Despite having dominated the game, Saints found themselves 6-0 behind.

However, their dominance was rewarded when scrum-half Cobus Reinach took matters into his own hands to slice through the Falcons’ defence and complete a fine solo effort. Fly-half Dan Biggar converted to give the hosts a slender 7-6 lead going into the interval.

Reinach grabbed his brace 10 minutes after the interval but it was all thanks to Teimana Harrison’s splintering break and awareness. Biggar made no mistake with the conversion for a 14-6 lead.

Falcons brought the deficit back to within five with 10 minutes to go through Brett Connon’s long-range penalty and the comeback was complete when England hero Mark Wilson touched the base of the post as Flood converted for the 16-14 win.

The scorers:

For Northampton Saints:
Tries: Reinach 2
Cons: Biggar 2

For Newcastle Falcons:
Try: Wilson
Con: Flood
Pens: Flood 2, Connon

Northampton Saints: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 Andrew Kellaway, 13 Fraser Dingwall, 12 Piers Francis, 11 Taqele Naiyaravoro, 10 Dan Biggar, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Lewis Ludlam, 6 Jamie Gibson, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 David Ribbans, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Dylan Hartley (cc), 1 Alex Waller (cc)
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Francois Van Wyk, 18 Ben Franks, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Mitch Eadie, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Luther Burrell, 23 Ollie Sleightholme

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Johnny Williams, 11 Sinoti Sinoti, 10 Toby Flood (c), 9 Sam Stuart, 8 Nemani Nagusa, 7 John Hardie, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Sean Robinson, 4 Calum Green, 3 David Wilson, 2 Kyle Cooper, 1 Sam Lockwood
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Adam Brocklebank, 18 Logovi’i Mulipola, 19 Andrew Davidson, 20 Gary Graham, 21 Sonatane Takulua, 22 Brett Connon, 23 Pedro Bettencourt

Referee: Matthew Carley
Assistant Referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Robert Warburton
TMO: David Grashoff

Saracens 29-6 Wasps

Saracens continued their fine form with a 29-6 victory over Wasps at Allianz Park on Saturday.

Converted tries from Jamie George and Nick Isiekwe and five Alex Lozowski penalties proved too much for the visitors, who scored through two Elliot Daly strikes from the tee.

The goal-kickers exchanged penalties in the opening quarter, but Lozowski would slot two more between the uprights to give Saracens a deserved 9-3 lead heading into the interval after a rather dour first-half.

Lozowski extended the lead in the 57th minute to 12-3 with another penalty before George went over in the corner after patient build up from the home side.

In the 71st minute, the result was put beyond all doubt when Isiekwe intercepted a blind pass from Daly close to his tryline and sauntered over the whitewash for a 29-6 victory.

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: George, Isiekwe
Cons: Lozowski 2
Pens: Lozowski 5

For Wasps:
Pens: Daly 2

Saracens: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex Lozowski, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Alex Goode, 9 Richard Wigglesworth, 8 Jackson Wray, 7 Calum Clark, 6 Mike Rhodes, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Vincent Koch, 2 Jamie George, 1 Titi Lamositele
Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Ralph Adams-Hale, 18 Juan Figallo, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Dom Day, 21 Ben Earl, 22 Ben Spencer, 23 Nick Tompkins

Wasps: 15 Wille le Roux, 14 Ross Neal, 13 Elliot Daly (c), 12 Michael Le Bourgeois, 11 Michele Campagnaro, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Craig Hampson, 8 Nathan Hughes, 7 Nizaam Carr, 6 Brad Shields, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 Will Rowlands, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Antonio Harris, 1 Ben Harris
Replacements: 16 Gabriel Oghre, 17 Zurabi Zhvania, 18 Mike Daniels, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Ben Morris, 21 Will Porter, 22 Billy Searle, 23 Juan de Jongh

Referee: JP Doyle
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales, Michael Hudson
TMO: Stuart Terheege