 |
| IMAGE VIA AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY |
After basically a month away due to being on holiday and the London Film Festival, I’ve been unable to cover the Aviva Premiership and I was a bit pissed, to be honest. However, I’m now back with some free time to cover what was a great round 6 before the teams start their European campaigns.
Harlequins 42 – 26 Sale Sharks
It’s been an up and down start to the season for Harlequins, but they got back to winning ways at the Twickenham Stoop with a convincing bonus-point win over Sale.
What also getting fans excited is the confidence and influence 18-year-old Marcus Smith is gaining in every match.
Smith was pulling the strings so well on Friday night Quins were 21-0 ahead within 25 minutes thanks to tries from Tim Visser, Joe Marler and Joe Marchant with Smith adding all three conversions.
 |
| IMAGE VIA AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY |
Sale was able to start their comeback though Mike Haley crossing over with AJ MacGinty converting, Smith was able to kick two penalties to extend Quins’ lead to 27-7 before half-time.
Visser was able to add his second after the half to give the home side the bonus point to give fans celebrating after back-to-back defeats against Northampton Saints and Leicester Tigers.
Tries from Halani Aulika, Sam James and Rob Webber did give the Sharks a bonus point, but Marland Yarde capped off a perfect evening for Harlequins.
Bath Rugby 29 – 13 Worcester Warriors
It was another mixed result for Bath they picked up the bonus point win, but their discipline is still shockingly crap finishing the game with 14-men again.
Elsewhere, it hasn’t been the start to the season Worcester were looking for has they suffering from a winless beginning and the European break will be a perfect time for the Warriors to restart their season in round seven.
Both side shared shortlived leads with Bath through Jonathan Joseph’s try and a Freddie Burns conversation, but Worcester retook a one point lead through Jamie Shillcock’s penalty and Dean Hammond’s try.
 |
| IMAGE VIA BATH RUGBY |
Once Aled Brew crossed over it was all Bath as Ben Tapuai touched down to give the home side a 19-8 lead at half-time.
Shilcock scored Warriors’ second and final points early in the second-half before Brew crossed the whitewash for the second time to extend their lead.
Shortly after scoring his conversion, Burns was sent off for a tip tackle on Josh Adams. However, the damage was already done but Josh Lewis held his nerve with a penalty to secure Bath’s win.
Exeter Chiefs 34 – 24 Newcastle Falcons
Exeter was able to inflict a second defeat of the season to Newcastle, but both sides will be happy leaving Sandy Park with a bonus point.
Aussies Nic White and Lachie Turner did give the Chiefs an early lead with Garth Steenson adding seven points.
 |
| IMAGE VIA EXETER CHIEFS |
The Falcons were able to score two tries of their own with Will Welch and Juan Pablo Socino crossing the whitewash between the two scores, Sam Simmonds added a third try for the home side with a superb solo effort by passing three tackles before crushing over with Steenson’s convention.
The host went in at half-time with a 24-10 lead.
The early stages of the second-half started well for Chiefs’ golden booted fly-half added another penalty, whereas their opponents lost Socino to the sin-bin.
This didn’t stop the visitors from scoring their third try of the match through an Alex Tait try and Toby Flood scored the conversion in first game back for the club he started his career.
 |
| IMAGE VIA AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY |
Chiefs got the bonus point thanks to a penalty try that also saw DTH van der Merwe sin-binned. The Falcons got their bonus point in the final stages of the game with a Vereniki Goneva try and Flood adding two points from the tee.
Gloucester Rugby 29 – 24 Northampton Saints
It’s a welcome return from injury for Henry Trinder, whose brace secured Gloucester Rugby a thrilling victory and end Northampton Saints’ four-game winning streaks.
 |
| IMAGE VIA MARTIN BENNETT / GLOUCESTER RUGBY |
Trinder started the try scoring on eight minutes before Jamie Gibson replayed on the 17th minutes with Harry Mallinder adding the extras. Then just before the break, Gloucester’s outside centre was able to put the host in front 10-7 at half-time.
Saints responded right away after half-time to regained their lead with Mallinder scoring a converted try. However, Gloucester fought back with Jason Woodward touching down to restore their advantage.
Mallinder did briefly tie-up the game before Billy Twelvetrees scored between the posts and this was quickly followed up by club captain Will Heinz touching down to secure the bonus point. Owen Williams slotted home both conversions to the enjoyment of the Kingsholm faithful.
 |
| IMAGE VIA AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY |
Saints were able to clinch a losing bonus point on the 68th minute when Mike Haywood crushed down from a line-out, but they were unable to get one last try as the Cherry and Whites held out.
London Irish 27 – 28 Leicester Tigers
London Irish made sure Leicester and the Tigers fans leave the Madejski Stadium with brown stains in their pants, but also with a fourth straight win.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to take the lead as Nick Malouf scored his third try for Leicester after a long pass from Matt Toomua.
The Tigers extended their lead to 14-0 on 26 minutes with three penalties from the boot of George Ford.
Irish did threaten but they could only settle for a Tommy Bell penalty before the break and went into half-time 14-3 down.
 |
| BLAIR COWAN SCORING TRY |
Will Evans scored a minute into the second half to continue Leicester’s domination with Ford scoring the conversion.
Even though a fightback looked unlike, the hosts didn’t give up with Bell slotting in another penalty before Blair Cowan scored a try to give the Irish fans hope and thanks to the boot of Bell the score was now 21-13.
However, Jonny May’s try-scoring run continued touching for the sixth time in six appearances in the Tigers shirt.
David Paice got the home side back into it and things got really hairy for Tigers after Alex Lewington crossed over, but it was the last play of the game and they did earn a losing bonus point which is a great result for Irish.
Saracens 38 – 19 Wasps
A Jamie George hat-trick of tries to ensure Saracens ended round 6 at the top of the Aviva Premiership table and also pilled another defeat to Wasps.
 |
| IMAGE VIA AVIVA PREMIERSHIP RUGBY |
Two quick tries from Chris Wyles and George was just the beginning an injury-hit Wasps. The boot of former Wasps Alex Lozowski added more pain with a conversion and penalty.
Marty Moore was able to score for the visitors with Rob Miller adding the extras.
Lozowski kept Sarries scoreboard ticking with another penalty before the break to go into half-time 18-7 up. The boot of the fly-half continued to punish Wasps with two more penalties after the break to take his total to 14 points.
George was twice at the end of rolling mauls to clinch his hat-trick to clinch the bonus point and Lozowski added the conversions to take his tally from the tee to 18 points.
Jack Willis and Josh Bassett late tries weren’t enough for Wasps and they’ve now lost their fourth in a row in the league.
No comments:
Post a Comment