Van Graan's Bath secures top seeding

WRAP: Runaway leaders Bath ruled out any chance of being overtaken by their Premiership rivals with a 55-19 bonus-point victory against Newcastle that secures top seeding in the play-offs.

However, it took a flurry of second-half tries to subdue the Falcons, who were leading just after half-time despite having lost full-back Louis Brown to a red card.

Bath’s eventual eight tries not only secured a 13th win in 15 matches but took their points difference to an unassailable 238.

Rookie fly-half Ciaran Donoghue announced himself to the Premiership with a stunning solo try after just 107 seconds of his league debut. Collecting a pass a few metres outside his own 22, he jinked and weaved past several hapless defenders before touching down at the other end and then also landed the conversion from a narrow angle.

A charged-down kick and a few loose passes were reminders of his inexperience at this level, though, and the Falcons pulled back an unconverted try by Cameron Neild.

Sam Underhill was back in the Bath team following his red card for a head-high tackle in the European Challenge Cup clash with Pau. Despite attending the tackle course, he was pinged for a similar but less dangerous offence against Falcons skipper Callum Chick, this time collecting a yellow card.

Despite the fine weather, it was a scrappy affair and Bath were content for Donoghue to kick a penalty in front of the posts to ease into a 10-5 lead on the half-hour. That spurred them to raise their game and Tom Carr-Smith touched down after wing Louie Hennessey broke clear. Donoghue’s conversion was good.

Despite losing full-back Brown to a red card in the 35th minute for a reckless, high body-check on Austin Emens, the visitors responded with a neatly-worked set move off a line-out which saw Connor Doherty stroll over for a try converted by Brett Connon. Significantly Cameron Redpath was also off the field at this point, shown a yellow for a deliberate knock-on.

Just after half-time, Doherty did it again, striding through untouched after clean line-out possession. With Connon on target again with the conversion, the Falcons were now leading by two points – but not for long.

Donoghue slipped through heavy traffic to send Quinn Roux over for a rare, if well-deserved, try and added the conversion too.

The all-important bonus-point score went to Underhill after the Newcastle defence had been sliced open by Donoghue’s pace. His conversion put Bath 31-19 ahead, and all hope evaporated for Newcastle when Emens scored in the corner and Finn Russell led the home side’s ‘bomb squad’ onto the field.

Emens, supporting another break from Donoghue, added a second almost immediately, with Russell converting, and Hennessey scampered up the touchline to score Bath’s fifth try and put the result beyond doubt at 48-19. Redpath added an eighth try in time added on, with Russell converting.

*Adam Radwan pressed his claims for an England place to Argentina this summer with a fine hat-trick as Leicester cruised to a 40-7 victory over Harlequins and boosted their hopes of a home play-off.

The wing plus fellow wide man Ollie Hassell-Collins, who grabbed a brace, put Quins to the sword and all but ended the Londoners’ own hopes of making the top four.

It was a bad day all-round for Quins, who had wing Cameron Anderson sent off after he twice took Freddie Steward out in the air with dangerous hits.

He received two yellow cards and then a red, having been knocked out cold on the ground from his second collision with Steward.

Tigers never looked back once Radwan raced over for his first try after Jack van Poortvliet’s long pass out wide right stretched the visitors.

Quins were soon down to 14 men for 10 minutes when Anderson sent Steward tumbling to the ground the first time trying to grab his own side’s high punt.

Anderson was waiting on the sideline to come back on the field, having finished his sin bin, when Tigers moved the ball across their back line and Ollie Hassell-Collins side-stepped his way over for the second try.

Quins’ fortunes worsened with full-back Tyrone Green sent to the sin bin for a deliberate knock on when Steward tried to spread the ball wide, and Tigers on the prowl for another try.

Radwan raced over for his second try, and Hassell-Collins completed a brace in the left corner from Woodward’s final pass and the floodgates had opened.

Radwan scorched through tacklers for another try, and he could finally celebrate his hat-trick for the afternoon as Quins melted. Hanro Liebenberg’s final try finished the crushing win.

*Northampton produced a blistering display as they warmed up for their Champions Cup semifinal with a 48-31 demolition of Bristol.

The Saints were at their sumptuous best as they scored seven tries to put a spanner in the works for Bristol and their Gallagher Premiership play-off bid.

The Bears had won the past five meetings between the teams, but Northampton were totally dominant as they ensured they would head to Dublin to face Leinster next Saturday on a real high.

As for Bristol, they have now suffered three successive league defeats, leaving their top-four hopes in the balance.

*All Saturday’s scores and scorers follow below …

Bath 55-19 Newcastle Falcons

Scorers

For Bath:
Tries: Donoghue, Carr-Smith, Roux, Underhill, Emens 2, Hennessey, Redpath
Cons: Donoghue 4, Russell 2
Pens: Donoghue

For Newcastle:
Tries: Neild, Doherty 2
Cons: Connon 2

Teams

Bath: 15 Austin Emens, 14 Ruaridh McConnochie, 13 Cameron Redpath, 12 Will Butt, 11 Louie Hennessey, 10 Ciaran Donoghue, 9 Tom Carr-Smith, 8 Alfie Barbeary, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Ted Hill, 5 Charlie Ewels (captain), 4 Quinn Roux, 3 Will Stuart, 2 Niall Annett, 1 Francois van Wyk
Replacements: 16 Tom Dunn, 17 Thomas du Toit, 18 Archie Griffin, 19 Josh Bayliss, 20, Guy Pepper, 21 Louis Schreuder, 22 Finn Russell, 23 Kepu Tuipulotu

Newcastle Falcons: 15 Louis Brown, 14 Alex Hearle, 13 Connor Doherty, 12 Max Clark, 11 Ben Stevenson, 10 Brett Connon, 9 Sam Stuart; 8 Callum Chick (captain), 7 Cameron Neild, 6 Freddie Lockwood, 5 Sebastian de Chaves, 4 John Hawkins, 3 Richard Palframan, 2 Jamie Blamire, 1 Adam Brocklebank
Replacements: 16 Ollie Fletcher, 17 Micky Rewcastle, 18 Murray McCallum, 19 Oscar Usher, 20 Ollie Leatherbarrow, 21 Max Pepper, 22 Oli Spencer, 23 Sammy Arnold.

Referee: Craig Maxwell-Keys
Assistant Referees: Joe James and Gareth Holsgrove
TMO: Peter Allan

Leicester 40-7 Harlequins

Scorers:

For Leicester:
Tries: Radwan 3, Hassell-Collins 2, Liebenberg
Cons: Pollard 4, Shillcock

For Harlequins:
Tries: Northmore
Cons: Smith

Teams

Leicester Tigers: 15 Freddie Steward, 14 Adam Radwan, 13 Solomone Kata, 12 Joseph Woodward, 11 Ollie Hassell-Collins, 10 Handré Pollard, 9 Jack van Poortvliet, 8 Kyle Hatherell, 7 Tommy Reffell, 6 Hanro Liebenberg, 5 Ollie Chessum, 4 Cameron Henderson, 3 Joe Heyes, 2 Julián Montoya (captain), 1 Nicky Smith,
Replacements: 16 Charlie Clare, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Emeka Ilione, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Jamie Shillcock, 23 Dan Kelly

Harlequins: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Cameron Anderson, 13 Oscar Beard, 12 Luke Northmore, 11 Cadan Murley, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Lewis Gjaltema, 8 Alex Dombrandt (captain), 7 Jack Kenningham, 6 Chandler Cunningham-South, 5 George Hammond, 4 Irne Herbst, 3 Titi Lamositele, 2 Jack Walker, 1 Fin Baxter,
Replacements: 16 Nathan Jibulu, 17 Wyn Jones, 18 Dillon Lewis, 19 Joe Launchbury, 20 Tom Lawday, 21 Will Evans, 22 Jake Murray, 23 Jamie Benson

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe
Assistant Referees: Jack Makepeace and Jamie Leahy
TMO: David Rose

Northampton Saints 48-31 Bristol

Scorers:

For Northampton:
Tries: Mitchell, Langdon, Freeman 2, Iyogun, Augustus, Pollock
Cons: Smith 4, Hutchinson
Pens: Smith

For Bristol:
Tries: Bailey, Ibitoye 2, Williams 2
Cons: MacGinty 2, Williams

Teams

Northampton Saints: 15 James Ramm, 14 Tommy Freeman, 13 Fraser Dingwall (c), 12 Rory Hutchinson, 11 Tom Litchfield, 10 Fin Smith, 9 Alex Mitchell, 1 Emmanuel Iyogun, 2 Curtis Langdon, 3 Trevor Davison, 4 Temo Mayanavanua, 5 Alex Coles, 6 Josh Kemeny, 7 Henry Pollock, 8 Juarno Augustus
Replacements: 16 Henry Walker, 17 Tom West, 18 Elliot Millar Mills, 19 Tom Lockett, 20 Angus Scott-Young, 21 Tom James, 22 Tom Seabrook, 23 Will Glister

Bristol Bears: 15. Rich Lane, 14. Deago Bailey, 13. Kalaveti Ravouvou, 12. Benhard Janse van Rensburg, 11. Gabriel Ibitoye, 10. AJ MacGinty, 9. Harry Randall, 1. Ellis Genge, 2. Harry Thacker, 3. Max Lahiff, 4. Josh Caulfield, 5. Joe Owen, 6. Steven Luatua, 7. Santiago Grondona, 8. Fitz Harding (c)
Replacements: 16. Gabriel Oghre, 17. Yann Thomas, 18. George Kloska, 19. Viliame Mata, 20. Ben Grondona, 21. Kieran Marmion, 22. James Williams, 23. Siva Naulago

Referee: Adam Leal
Assistant Referees: Andrew Jackson and Wayne Falla
TMO: Matthew Carley