Wins for Leicester, Saracens and Newcastle

Leicester edged past Harlequins in a tight game, Saracens demolished Sale while Newcastle secured a thrilling come-from-behind victory over Bath in Saturday's Premiership action.

Harlequins 28-31 Leicester
The Stoop

A late George Ford penalty was enough to give a rejuvenated Leicester their second win on the bounce. 

Quins came into the game off of the back of ending Wasps long unbeaten run at home so optimism was high. But it was the outstanding Telusa Veainu who was the first to cross for the Tigers in a contest that continued to swing from side to side. 

In the second period Danny Care took a quick tap to dive over before Marland Yarde's intercept sent Mat Luamana over in the corner to give the home side the lead. Two quick fire Leicester tries then swung the momentum yet again with Jonny May racing clear and Greg Bateman going over after cutting through a hole in the home side's defence.

Replacement Alofa Alofa returned the lead to John Kingston's side as he walked over the Tigers line thanks to a great running line. But the visitors were not to be denied and with the score at 28 apiece Quins conceded a penalty in front of the posts and George Ford handed the four points to Matt O'Connor's men.

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Care, Luamana, Alofa
Cons: Smith, Swiel
Pens: Smith 3 

For Leicester:
Tries: Veainu, May, Bateman
Cons: Ford 2 
Pens: Ford 4

Harlequins: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Charlie Walker, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Chris Robshaw, 5 James Horwill, 4 George Merrick, 3 Will Collier, 2 Rob Buchanan, 1 Mark Lambert
Replacements: 16 Dave Ward, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Kyle Sinckler, 19 Charlie Matthews, 20 Ben Glynn, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Alofa Alofa

Leicester: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Siona Kalamafoni, 7 Dominic Ryan, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Greg Bateman, 18 Logovi'i Mulipola, 19 Luke Hamilton, 20 Valentino Mapapalangi, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Matthew Tait

Saracens 41-13 Sale Sharks
Allianz Park

A different continent but the same result for European champions Saracens as they eased to a bonus point victory at home against the Sale Sharks.

After returning from their American adventure Mark McCall was able to name a near full strength side and their class was evident. Scrum-half Ben Spencer crossed for two tries whilst Liam Williams scored on his home debut. Vincent Koch was the man to secure the bonus point and Owen Farrell was his usual reliable self with the boot. Replacement Nathan Earle also added his name to the scoresheet as the clock began to run down.

Faf De Klerk knocked three points over for the visitors and Byron McGuigan did cross twice for Steve Diamond's men but from minute one the Sharks were always up against a superior outfit and it told. 

The scorers:

For Saracens:
Tries: Spencer 2, Williams, Koch
Cons: Farrell 4
Pens: Farrell 2 

For Sale Sharks:
Tries: McGuigan 2
Pen: De Klerk

Saracens: 15 Alex Goode, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Marcelo Bosch, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Liam Williams, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Spencer, 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Jackson Wray, 6 Michael Rhodes, 5 George Kruis, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Juan Figallo, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Replacements: 16 Schalk Brits, 17 Hayden Thompson-Stringer, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Nick Isiekwe, 20 Callum Clark, 21 Henry Taylor, 22 Alex Lozowski, 23 Nathan Earle

Sale Sharks: 15 Mike Haley, 14 Denny Solomona, 13 Sam James, 12 Mark Jennings, 11 Josh Charnley, 10 AJ McGinty, 9 Faf De Klerk, 8 Josh Strauss, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Jono Ross, 5 Josh Beaumont, 4 Bryn Evans, 3 Alex Tarus, 2 Rob Webber, 1 Ross Harrison
Replacements: 16 Cameron Nield, 17 James Flynn, 18 Halani Aulika, 19 Andre Ostrikov, 20 Ben Curry, 21 TJ Ioane, 22 Will Cliff, 23 Byron McGuigan

Bath 32-33 Newcastle Falcons
The Rec

Bath thought they'd recovered from a 19-0 deficit against Newcastle but a late Mark Wilson try gave the ever improving Falcons a big victory at the Rec. 

Sonatane Takulua, Rob Vickers and debutant DTH van der Merwe crossed before Bath could register a score. But Todd Blackadder's men came back with a vengeance as Matt Banahan, Semesa Rokoduguni, Charlie Ewels and Jonathan Joseph crossed to hand what the home crowd thought was victory as they opened up a comfortable cushion.

But Newcastle refused to be denied and when centre Chris Harris crossed their glimmer of hope got even lighter. The comeback to counter their opponents comeback was completed when Mark Wilson scored with less than five minutes to go and Joel Hodgson converted to hand the visitors a famous win that further legitimises their ambitions for this season.

The scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Banahan, Rokoduguni, Ewels, Joseph
Cons: Priestland 3 
Pens: Priestland 2

For Newcastle:
Tries: Takulua, Vickers, van der Merwe, Harris, Wilson
Cons: Takuala 2, Hodgson 2

Bath: 15 Freddie Burns, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Max Clark, 11 Matt Banahan, 10 Rhys Priestland, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Paul Grant, 7 Francois Louw, 6 Charlie Ewels, 5 Elliott Stooke, 4 Luke Charteris, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Nick Auterac 
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Beno Obano, 18 Scott Andrews, 19 James Phillips, 20 Zach Mercer, 21 Darren Allinson, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Aled Brew

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Simon Hammersley, 14 Vereniki Goneva, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Juan Pablo Socino, 11 DTH van der Merwe, 10 Craig Willis, 9 Sonatane Takulua, 8 Nili Latu, 7 Will Welch, 6 Mark Wilson, 5 Will Witty, 4 Calum Green, 3 Jon Welsh, 2 Santiago Socino, 1 Rob Vickers 
Replacements: 16 Scott Lawson, 17 Sami Mavinga, 18 Trevor Davison, 19 Sean Robinson, 20 Ally Hogg, 21 Sam Stuart, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Josh Matavesi