A good week for the Home Unions on the international front with all four grabbing wins. Away from the international field, players continued to try and make their cases for recognition.
Here is a round up of Week 9’s action.
Bristol 16-21 Leicester
So close but yet so far for Bristol. The home side suffered their ninth straight defeat but did manage to walk away with a losing bonus point thanks to a converted Rob Hawkins try but Adam Thompstone and Ellis Genge tries along with another 8 points from fly half Freddie Burns ensured there was no upset.
After a scrappy first 25 minutes Leicester took the lead when a cross field kick was collected by Thompstone for the opening try of the game. Leicester dominated from this point on and prop Genge was the beneficiary after a succession of powerful drives from the forwards allowed him to power over.
Manu Tuilagi made his eagerly awaited return with 20 minutes to go but with Leicester down to 14 Hawkins scored to make it a nervy ending that the Tigers saw out.
Northampton 16-22 Newcastle
Newcastle recorded a fantastic victory at Franklins Gardens. The Saints were depleted with 13 players on International duty but it took a 75th minute 80m interception try from Vereniki Gonevu to win it for the Falcons.
To add to the home teams woes, back rower Kieran Brookes was sent off in the second half for use of the shoulder in a ruck but Chris Day’s try and Stephen Myler’s boot looked to have guided Northampton to a hard fought victory. A third defeat at home for Northampton but a superb away victory for Newcastle who find themselves sitting pretty in mid table.
Exeter 57-22 Worcester
Here they come. An eight try thrashing earnt Exeter a third win on the spin, this time against Worcester. The Warriors on the other hand suffered their fourth successive loss as Jack Yeandle, Will Chudley, Olly Woodburn, Carl Rimmer, Thomas Waldrom, James Short and Ian Whitten all dotted down for the Chiefs with Josh Adams and South Africans Wynand Olivier and Dewald Potgeiter scoring three late tries for the visitors.
Leading 24-3 at the break, they didn’t take long to add to the scoreboard grabbing their fourth try just three minutes into the second half. The fifth and sixth tires came in quick succession before Adams scored. Olivier and Potgeiter’s tries coming in the final ten minutes either side of an eighth and final Chiefs try from Whitten
Saracens 24-20 Gloucester
Glouester, buoyed by last week success against Wasps pushed Saracens all the way at Allianz Park. Former England Number 8 Ben Morgan scored after a mere 60 seconds and Billy Burns also scored after 15 minutes to give the Cherry and Whites a half time lead of 17-15. But Saracens are champions for a reason and Brad Barrit and Mike Ellery also scored in the first half an hour of the game and Alex Lozowksi enhanced his growing reputation with three second half penalties to give them victory and maintain their lead at the top of table.
Alex Goode and Brad Barrit had to be at their defensive best to prevent Henry Purdy and Charlie Sharples scoring respectively. John Afoa’s sin binning could have proven too much for Gloucester but they didn’t let their heads drop as they tried to turn the screw but indiscipline at the end allowed Lozowski two late penalties to see Saracens home.
Wasps 34-24 Sale
It was a case of home sweet home for Wasps as they recorded their 16th successive victory at the Ricoh Arena. Ashely Johnson scored twice and did former Shark Rob Miller and Danny Cipriani rounded off the try scorers as the hosts bounced back from defeat at Gloucester last week.
Bryn Evans’ double and Mike Haley’s try was in vain as the scoreline didn’t really reflect the ease at which Wasps won. Cipriani scored the games first try on 11 minutes which was added to by Johnson twice before halftime Evans got his first just after the break as Sale exerted some pressure to try and get back into the game but two tires in two minutes from full back Miller took the game away from Sale.
Once again Wasps conceded two late tries, a pattern that may be of some concern, but they returned to second in the table just behind Saracens with the bonus point win.
Harlequins 21-20 Bath
A 75th minute Tim Swiel penalty gave Harlequins the one point victory in this nail biter at The Stoop. In the process Bath relinquished second place in the league to Wasps who put Sale to the sword earlier on in the day. Tim Visser scored another early try but Quins couldn’t make their domination count on the scoreboard and Kane Palma-Newport ensured there was only one point in it at half time. Karl Dickson restored Quins lead only for Nathan Catt to reply for Bath for whom Tom Homer converted both tries compared to Swiel’s one conversion. This looked like it would be the difference until a penalty from distance was converted to keep Quins within touching distance of the European spots.
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