Sale, Exeter and Northampton impress with wins
Exeter, Northampton and Sale picked up bonus-point Premiership wins on Friday as they beat Worcester, Bath and London Irish respectively.
Northampton Saints 24-6 Bath
Northampton inflicted a first defeat of the season on a travelling Bath side with a dominant performance at Franklin's Gardens.
Saints were hoping to carry on their form from last weekend’s east Midlands derby win over Leicester, and it didn’t take them long to get going.
Courtney Lawes, captaining the side at openside, crossed in the corner after a neat break from the Northampton backs.
Bath took the lead with two penalties from Rhys Priestland, but Saints would go into half time in the lead with a try from David Ribbans after a powerful driving maul.
The Saints locks continued to prove their try-scoring prowess, Ribbans powering over for his second of the evening to really assert their control on the game.
After relentless pressure from the home side, the bonus point try finally came with five minutes left to play. George North finishing out wide after numerous phases in midfield from the Saints forwards.
The win puts Saints' opening day defeat to Saracens firmly behind them. For Bath, a first defeat of the season and a sad note to end on for departing coach Tabai Matson.
The scorers:
For Northampton:
Tries: Lawes, Ribbans 2, North
Cons: Mallinder 2
For Bath:
Pens: Priestland 2
Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Matt Garvey (c), 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano
Replacements: 16 Jack Walker, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 James Phillips, 20 Paul Grant, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Freddie Burns, 23 Max Clark
Northampton: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 George North, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Tom Collins, 10 Harry Mallinder, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Courtney Lawes (c), 5 David Ribbans, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Campese Ma’afu, 18 Kieran Brookes, 19 Christian Day, 20 Lewis Ludlam, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 James Grayson, 23 Ben Foden
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace & Simon McConnell
TMO: Graham Hughes
Worcester Warriors 10-41 Exeter Chiefs
Exeter number eight Sam Simmonds ran in two of his sides six tries as they overpowered Worcester at Sixways.
It was the champions who opened the scoring with a penalty from the ever-reliable boot of Gareth Steenson. Warriors responded shortly after with a penalty through young fly-half Sam Olver.
Rob Baxter’s men then began to assert their authority on the game with two tries from young number eight Simmonds and Lions winger Jack Nowell. They scored their third just before the break with lock Jonny Hill powering over in the corner.
Worcester came out of the blocks firing in the second half, tighthead juggernaut Biyi Alo powering over from close range for their first try of the evening, Exeter responded with a second penalty from Steenson.
Exeter secured their bonus point score just after the hour mark, Olly Woodburn finishing neatly despite several last-minute attempts to hold him up by a desperate Warriors defence.
The Chiefs continued to push, and were rewarded when Simmonds powered over once again for his fourth try in three games this season.
As Worcester went searching for a consolation score, Exeter were reduced to 14 men when Stuart Townsend was shown yellow. But the home side were unable to take advantage and Exeter cleared their lines to confirm a comfortable away win.
The scorers:
For Worcester:
Try: Alo
Con: Olver
Pen: Olver
For Exeter:
Tries: Simmonds 2, Nowell, Hill, Woodburn
Cons: Steenson 5
Pens: Steenson 2
Worcester: 15 Josh Adams, 14 Perry Humphreys, 13 Jackson Willison, 12 Ben Te’o, 11 Bryce Heem, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Jonny Arr, 8 GJ van Velze, 7 Sam Lewis, 6 Matt Cox, 5 Pierce Phillips, 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (c), 3 Biyi Alo, 2 Jack Singleton, 1 Ryan Bower
Replacements: 16 Joe Taufete’e, 17 Ethan Waller, 18 Gareth Milasinovich, 19 Christian Scotland-Williamson, 20 Alafoti Faosiliva, 21 Peter Stringer, 22 Sam Olver, 23 Jamie Shillcock
Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Nic White, 8 Sam Simmonds, 7 Don Armand, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Carl Rimmer
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Stuart Townsend, 22 Max Bodilly, 23 Lachie Turner
Referee: Ian Tempest
Assistant Referees: Adam Leal & Philip Waters
TMO: Keith Lewis
Sale Sharks 36-7 London Irish
Sale ran in five tries, including two from England wing Denny Solomona, in a dominant home performance against London Irish.
Steve Diamond’s men were looking to get over last weekend’s disappointing home defeat to Newcastle, and came out all guns blazing.
An early penalty from AJ MacGinty was followed up by a first try in 109 appearances for prop Ross Harrison.
Solomona, a man far more accustomed to the try line, scored two quick fire tries to take Sale 24 points clear before the half hour mark.
The situation worsened for Irish as the second half progressed, flanker Blair Cowan shown yellow for collapsing a maul.
Sale were quick to take advantage of the extra man, Josh Charnley finishing off a neat overlap to secure the four try bonus point.
London Irish eventually registered their first score, referee Wayne Barnes awarded tem a penalty try after repetitive scrum infringements by Sale, with Halani Aulika sin binned for the home side.
Any hopes of a London Irish fightback were ended when Cowan was shown red for a second yellow card offence.
The Sharks compiled the misery further with a fifth try from inside centre Mark Jennings, MacGinty missing his only kick of the evening from that conversion attempt.
The scorers:
For Sale:
Tries: Harrison, Solomona 2, Charnley, Jennings
Cons: MacGinty 4
Pens: MacGinty
For London Irish:
Try: Penalty try
Red card: Cowan
Sale: 15 Will Addison (c), 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 AJ MacGinty, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Ben Curry, 6 Jono Ross (cc), 5 Josh Beaumont, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Alex Tarus, 2 Marc Jones, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Rob Webber, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Andre Ostrikov, 20 Tom Curry, 21 TJ Ioane, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Mike Haley
London Irish: 15 Tommy Bell, 14 Alex Lewington, 13 Aseli Tikoirotuma, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Topsy Ojo, 10 James Marshall, 9 Brendan McKibbin, 8 Ofisa Treviranus 7 Blair Cowan, 6 Mike Coman, 5 Sebastian De Chaves, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Ben Franks (c), 2 Dave Porecki, 1 Danny Hobbs-Awoyemi
Replacements: 16 David Paice, 17 Harry Elrington, 18 Petrus Du Plessis, 19 Josh McNally, 20 Conor Gilsenan, 21 Scott Steele, 22 Greig Tonks 23 Napolioni Nalaga
Referee: Wayne Barnes
Assistant Referees: Hamish Smales & Wayne Falla
TMO: Stuart Terheege