Du Preez scores on debut and Carreras stars as Bath sink Harlequins

FRIDAY WRAP: Santi Carreras produced a wonder try as Bath exploited the absence of Harlequins’ England contingent to launch their Gallagher Prem title challenge with a 33-17 victory at The Stoop.

Carreras stopped a certain try by kicking a final pass destined for Cadan Murley while it was in mid-air, darting forwards to catch the ball and then winning the foot race that began just outside his own 22.

It was a unique score from the Argentina fullback that mixed skill and athleticism and crucially it came in the 32nd minute as Harlequins looked to capitalise on the threats created by their high-tempo attack.

While Bath produced fewer thrills, they entered the interval 28-10 ahead with their line-out maul an important weapon and they also finished the stronger of the sides once Quins had run out of steam.

Marcus Smith, Alex Dombrandt, Fin Baxter and George Furbank were missing through injury, leaving Murley and Chandler Cunningham-South as the last men standing from their England contingent, but Quins shrugged off the losses.

From the start they looked to play at breakneck speed and while it was electric at times, Bath had the confidence to soak up the waves of attack and take their chances when they came.

Dan du Preez finished a maul try on his Bath debut as his team expertly squeezed territory but Will Porter hit back for the hosts by darting clear from a line-out and crossing, evading tackles as he went.

The exchange of tries continued when Joe Cokanasiga exploited a defence that had fragmented after Carreras had escaped down the left before Cunningham-South arrived in support to round off a dynamic Harlequins break.

The score was a reprieve for Cunningham-South, who had started like a freight train only to drop two passes in strong positions.

Quins were fighting for everything and attacking with precision, but in the 33rd minute they had to absorb the blow of seeing Carreras race free for his try of the season contender just as they were about to score themselves.

Having been under pressure for lengthy spells of the first-half, canny Bath then struck again with Dan Frost on the end of a line-out maul just moments after Sam Underhill knocked on with the line begging.

The third quarter was all Harlequins as Pedro Delgado blasted over from close range following an infield charge by Murley and the try was the prelude to a sustained assault on the Bath 22.

Quins replacement hooker Sam Riley was shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle and it was Bath who came on strong in the final quarter with Ewan Richards finishing another maul try to seal the result.

*Meanwhile, Tommy Freeman and James Pater scored hat-tricks as Northampton, the reigning Prem champions, took advantage of a favourable opening fixture to record a convincing 59-26 victory over last season’s bottom club.

Since the end of last season, Red Bulls have recruited extensively and they did show signs of improvement but it was a tough ask against a side intent on making a statement of their intention to fiercely defend their title.

Tries from George Hendy, Alex Coles and Ollie Sleightholme took Saints’ tally to nine with Fin Smith adding five conversions and Anthony Belleau two.

Christian Wade scored two tries for the visitors to take his Premiership tally to 95 – just six behind the record holder Chris Ashton. Cam Jordan and Werner Kok were the other try-scorers with two conversions coming from Zack Henry and one from Brett Connon.

See below for Friday’s scores and scorers!

Northampton Saints 59-26 Newcastle

The scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Pater 3, Hendy, Freeman 3, Coles, Sleightholme
Cons: F Smith 5, Belleau 2

For Newcastle:
Tries: Wade 2, Jordan, Kok
Cons: Connon, Henry 2

Teams:

Northampton Saints: 15 James Pater, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Rory Hutchinson, 12 Fraser Dingwall (captain), 11 George Hendy, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Archie McParland, 8 Callum Chick, 7 Henry Pollock, 6 Josh Kemeny, 5 Ed Prowse, 4 Alex Coles, 3 Cleopas Kundiona, 2 Curtis Langdon, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Smith, 17 Danilo Fischetti, 18 Ion Neculai, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Josh Taylor, 21 Alex Mitchell, 22 Anthony Belleau, 23 Ollie Sleightholme.

Newcastle Red Bulls: 15 Harrison Obatoyinbo, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Alex Hearle, 12 Chris Harris, 11 Werner Kok, 10 Brett Connon, 9 James Elliott, 8 Sam Graham, 7 Tom Christie (captain), 6 Max Hicks, 5 Cam Jordan, 4 Oscar Usher, 3 Elliot Millar Mills, 2 George McGuigan, 1 Pouri Rakete-Stones.
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Tom West, 18 James Harper, 19 Franco Molina, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Simón Benítez Cruz, 22 Zack Henry, 23 Hoskins Sotutu.

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant referees: George Selwood and Veryan Boscawen
TMO: Ian Tempest

Harlequins 17-33 Bath

The scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Porter, Cunningham-South, Delgado
Con: Slevin

For Bath:
Tries: Du Preez, Cokanasiga, Carreras, Frost, Richards
Cons: Russell 4

Teams:

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Cameron Anderson, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Bryn Bradley, 11 Cadan Murley (captain), 10 Connor Slevin, 9 Will Porter, 8 Chandler Cunningham-South, 7 Will Evans, 6 Jack Kenningham, 5 Harry Browne, 4 James Dun, 3 Pedro Delgado, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Will Hobson.
Replacements: 16 Sam Riley, 17 Boris Wenger, 18 Harry Johnson-Holmes, 19 Kieran Treadwell, 20 Guido Petti Pagadizábal, 21 Lucas Friday, 22 Josh Bellamy, 23 Rodrigo Isgró.

Bath: 15 Santi Carreras, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Ollie Lawrence, 12 Max Ojomoh, 11 Tom de Glanville, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Tom Carr-Smith, 8 Dan du Preez, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Josh Bayliss, 5 Charlie Ewels (captain), 4 Ted Hill, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Dan Frost, 1 Beno Obano.
Replacements: 16 Kepu Tuipulotu, 17 Scott Kirk, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Ewan Richards, 20 Guy Pepper, 21 Bernard van der Linde, 22 Cameron Redpath, 23 Miles Reid.

Referee: Karl Dickson
Assistant referees: Joe James and Simon Harding
TMO: David Rose