Gloucester down Saints; Tigers fall

A late penalty from Freddie Burns gave Gloucester a 27-24 win over Northampton in a thrilling game at Kingsholm.

The flyhalf kicked 17 points to seal a game which neither side deserved to lose.

The visitors will reflect that Ryan Lamb failed with two simple penalties, which deprived the Saints of victory – and they will rue the carelessness which gave away a vital try just before the interval.

The home backs were sharper with fine displays from Burns and Jonny May but in the second half they were deprived of possession by a formidable Northampton pack that grew stronger as the game progressed, with Roger Wilson and Soane Tonga’uiha at the core of that effort.

* Meanwhile, Harlequins returned to winning ways as wing Tom Williams helped orchestrate the victory over London Irish which extended their lead at the top of the Premiership table.

Quins were on a poor run of form, having lost four of their last five games in all competitions, and were left trailing in the first half after Tom Homer scored all of London Irish’s points to give them a 13-10 interval lead.

But Williams, who assisted with Tom Casson’s first half try, won a race to a loose ball to touch down after the restart before also having a hand in fullback Ross Chisholm’s score that killed off the Exiles challenge.

* Elsewhere, Bath collected a welcome bonus-point 30-24 win to climb away from the relegation zone – but had to endure a a few sticky moments as bottom club Newcastle showed they are still full of fight.

The Falcons led 14-8 at half-time before Bath pulled away with tries by Olly Woodburn – his second of the game – a penalty try and another from Samoan prop Anthony Perenise.

Young flyhalf Tom Heathcote celebrated his 20th birthday with two conversions and a penalty and had a hand in three of the tries, while Olly Barkley scored the rest of Bath’s points. A late Will Chudley try, converted by Jimmy Gopperth, ensured Newcastle also took a bonus point.

* In Saturday’s final clash Exeter Chiefs completed the double of Leicester Tigers  with a 19-11 victory at Sandy Park and climbed up to fifth place in the Premiership table.

Alesana Tuilagi gave the Tigers the perfect start with an early try, but four penalties from Chiefs flyhalf Ignacio Mieres and a try from Richard Baxter helped Exeter to fight their way back into the match.

The Tigers will rue the mistakes they made in a clash where they were unable to unlock Exeter’s dogged defence.

All the scores and scorers from the Saturday games:

Gloucester 27-24 Northampton Saints

Scorers:

For Gloucester:
Tries: Sharples, Dawidiuk
Con: Burns
Pens: Burns 5

For Northampton:
Tries: Tonga’uiha, Pisi
Con: Myler
Pens: Lamb 4

Gloucester: 15 Jonny May, 14 Charlie Sharples, 13 Mike Tindall, 12 Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu, 11 James Simpson-Daniel, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Rory Lawson, 8 Matt Cox, 7 Akapusi Qera, 6 Peter Buxton (captain), 5 Alex Brown, 4 Will James, 3 Rupert Harden, 2 Darren Dawidiuk, 1 Nick Wood.
Replacements: 16 Matias Cortese, 17 Dan Murphy, 18 Shaun Knight, 19 Tom Savage, 20 Rob Langley, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Ryan Mills, 23 Tim Molenaar.

Northampton Saints: 15 Paul Diggin, 14 Jamie Elliott, 13 George Pisi, 12 James Downey, 11 Vasily Artemyev, 10 Ryan Lamb, 9 Martin Roberts, 8 Roger Wilson, 7 Calum Clark (captain), 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Christian Day, 4 Samu Manoa, 3 Brian Mujati, 2 Andy Long, 1 Soane Tonga’uiha.
Replacements: 16 Mike Haywood, 17 Alex Waller, 18 Paul Doran Jones, 19 Mark Sorenson, 20 Ben Nutley, 21 Ryan Glynn, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Tom May.

Harlequins 30-23 London Irish

Scorers:

For Harlequins:
Tries: Casson, Williams, Chisholm
Cons: Evans 3
Pens: Evans 2
DG: Care

For London Irish:
Tries: Homer, Joseph
Cons: Homer 2
Pens: Homer, Jarvis

Harlequins: 15 Ross Chisholm, 14 Tom Williams, 13 Matt Hopper, 12 Tom Casson, 11 Sam Smith, 10 Nick Evans, 9 Danny Care, 8 Nick Easter, 7 Luke Wallace, 6 Tom Guest, 5 George Robson (captain), 4 Olly Kohn, 3 James Johnston, 2 Joe Gray, 1 Mark Lambert.
Replacements: 16 Chris Brooker, 17 Aston Croall, 18 Tim Fairbrother, 19 Tomas Vallejos, 20 Will Skinner, 21 Karl Dickson, 22 Rory Clegg, 23 George Lowe.

London Irish: 15 Tom Homer, 14 Topsy Ojo, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Shontayne Hape, 11 Sailosi Tagicakibau, 10 Dan Bowden, 9 Darren Allinson, 8 Richard Thorpe, 7 Kieran Roche, 6 Matt Garvey, 5 Bryn Evans, 4 Nick Kennedy, 3 Faan Rautenbach, 2 David Paice, 1 Clarke Dermody (captain).
Replacements: 16 Brian Blaney, 17 Max Lahiff, 18 Paulica Ion, 19 Ed Siggery, 20 Marland Yarde, 21 Delon Armitage, 22 Adrian Jarvis, 23 Ross Samson.

Bath 30-24 Newcastle Falcons

Scorers:

For Bath:
Tries: Woodburn 2, Penalty try, Perenise
Cons: Heathcote
Pens: Barkley, Heathcote

For Newcastle:
Tries: Wilson, Vickers, Chudley
Cons: Gopperth 3
Pen: Gopperth

Yellow card: Gopperth

The teams:

Bath: 15 Sam Vesty, 14 Olly Woodburn, ,13 Matt Banahan, 12 Olly Barkley, 11 Tom Biggs, 10 Tom Heathcote, 9 Michael Claassens,8 Simon Taylor, 7 Francois Louw (captain), 6 Ben Skirving, 5 Ryan Caldwell, 4 Dave Attwood, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Lee Mears, 1 David Flatman.
Replacements: 16 Pieter Dixon, 17 Nathan Catt, 18 Kane Palma-Newport, 19 Guy Mercer, 20 Josh Ovens, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Matt Carraro, 23 Nick Scott.

Newcastle: 15 Greg Goosen, 14 Ryan Shortland, 13 Jamie Helleur, 12 James Fitzpatrick, 11 Suka Hufanga, 10 Jimmy Gopperth (captain), 9 Chris Pilgrim, 8 Mark Wilson, 7 Ally Hogg,6 Will Welch,5 Tim Swinson,4 Adriaan Fondse, 3 Euan Murray,2 Rob Vickers, 1 Grant Shiells.
Replacements: 16 Matt Thompson, 17 Jonny Golding, 18 James Hall, 19 Andrew van der Heijden, 20 Taiasina Tu’ifua, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Joel Hodgson, 23 Tom Bedford.

Exeter Chiefs 19-11 Leicester Tigers

Scorers:

For Exeter:
Try: Bxter
Con: Mieres
Pens: Mieres 4

For Leicester:
Try: Tuilagi
Pens: Flood 2

The teams:

Exeter: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Gonzalo Camacho, 13 Nic Sestaret, 12 Jason Shoemark, 11 Matt Jess, 10 Ignacio Mieres, 9 Haydn Thomas, 8 Richard Baxter, 7 James Scaysbrook, 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Aly Muldowney, 4 Tom Hayes (captain), 3 Hoani Tui, 2 Neil Clark, 1 Brett Sturgess.
Replacements: 16 Chris Whitehead, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Craig Mitchell, 19 James Phillips, 20 Ben White, 21 Kevin Barrett, 22 Gareth Steenson, 23 Bryan Rennie.

Leicester: 15 Geordan Murphy (captain), 14 Horacio Agulla, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Anthony Allen, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Toby Flood, 9 Sam Harrison, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Steve Mafi, 5 George Skivington, 4 Ed Slater, 3 Julian White, 2 George Chuter, 1 Marcos Ayerza.
Replacements: 16 Rob Hawkins, 17 Ryan Bower, 18 Logoviii Mulipola, 19 Craig Newby, 20 Ben Woods, 21 James Grindal, 22 George Ford, 23 Matt Smith.