Wasps edge Tigers in thriller

With the teams level heading into the final seconds, Myall showed all his strength to burst through a gap and over – giving Wasps the bonus point and a fifth straight win over Tigers in the process.

Gloucester Rugby made it five Premiership wins in a row for the first time since 2011 and climbed into the top four of the table after Billy Burns put London Irish to the sword.

Exeter Chiefs will head off on their European odyssey top of the Premiership pile after putting Bath to the sword at Sandy Park to win 42-29.

Wasps 32-25 Leicester

It was Leicester who had flown out of the blocks and were almost over in the first minute, eventually having to settle for three points from George Ford after home side infringed.

They stretched their lead when skipper Tom Youngs crossed after a long period of Tigers dominance and it seemed the visitors might be taking control.

However, Wasps have shown under Dai Young that they can score and quickly, and they turned the game on its head before half-time with Danny Cipriani pulling the strings on his return to the starting line-up. First Nizaam Carr finished off a sweeping move after he took a beautiful delayed pop pass by Dan Robson, who then went over for the second.

Elliot Daly added a further penalty on the stroke of half-time to give Wasps a 17-10 lead but Leicester fought back with two tries from former Wasps wing Jonah Holmes, the first set up by Valentino Mapapalangi, the second and intercept.

Wasps hit straight back, first with a penalty from Gopperth, followed by a brilliant try from  aly in the corner after working the overlap to reclaim the lead at 25-22.

Still Leicester kept coming though, with Holmes almost completing his hat-trick, only to be denied on the line by Robson’s steal.

Tigers were not done though and another Ford penalty levelled the game with ten minutes to go before Kearnan Myall's late intervention.

The scorers:

For Wasps:

Tries: Carr, Robson, Daly, Myall

Cons: Gopperth 3

Pens: Daly, Gopperth

For Leicester:

Tries: T Youngs, Holmes 2

Cons: Ford 2

Pens: Ford 2

Teams:

Wasps: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Christian Wade, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Jimmy Gopperth, 11 Elliot Daly, 10 Danny Cipriani, 9 Dan Robson, 8 Nizaam Carr, 7 Thomas Young, 6 James Haskell, 5 Kearnan Myall, 4 James Gaskell, 3 Jake Cooper-Woolley, 2 Ashley Johnson (captain), 1 Simon McIntyre. 

Replacements: 16 Nathan Charles, 17 Ben Harris, 18 Marty Moore, 19 Marcus Garratt, 20 Jack Willis, 21 Joe Simpson, 22 Gaby Lovobalavu, 23 Josh Bassett.

Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Adam Thompstone, 13 Mathew Tait, 12 Gareth Owen, 11 Jonah Holmes, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Will Evans, 6 Valentino Mapapalangi, 5 Graham Kitchener, 4 Mike Fitzgerald, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (captain), 1 Ellis Genge. 

Replacements: 16 Harry Thacker, 17 Kyle Traynor, 18 Logovi’i Mulipola, 19 Harry Wells, 20 Mike Williams, 21 Ben White, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Matt Smith.

Referee: Thomas Foley

Assistant referees: Adam Leal, Paul Dix

TMO: David Sainsbury

Gloucester 39-15 London Irish

First-half tries from Lewis Ludlow and Billy Burns along with the boot of Billy Twelvetrees opened up a 20-8 lead for the Cherry & Whites – who are unbeaten at Kingsholm this season.

The Exiles had Petrus du Plessis go over for a try in the first half but when David Paice saw red, it was one-way traffic from then on.

Burns grabbed his second, Jake Polledri darted clear for Gloucester's fourth and a bonus point before Burns' perfect kick to the corner gave Henry Purdy a sublime score.

The Exiles – who grabbed a second of their own through Teofilo Paulo – stay rooted to the bottom of the standings, their only league win still their season opener against Harlequins at Twickenham.

Ludlow burst onto a Burns pass that looked almost forward to dot down under the posts for the first try.

Joe Cokanasiga's break earned a penalty though and got Irish on the board through Tommy Bell, trailing 3-7.

But Twelvetrees slotted two penalties of his own before Du Plessis rumbled over at the back of a maul.

That made it 13-8 to the hosts but after mounting pressure on the Irish line, eventually it was Burns who dived over for Gloucester's second.

Twelvetrees added the extras to make it 20-8 at the break, although the Exiles also lost Paice to a red card for an off-the-ball tackle on Willi Heinz.

And after half time Johan Ackermann's Cherry and Whites turned on the style, Burns the next to go over for his second of the game after a fine floated Twelvetrees pass released him.

And the hosts had the bonus point before the hour mark when Polledri stretched his legs to burst clear for his first try ever league try.

Irish grabbed a second, despite their numerical disadvantage when Paulo went over from close range, but Gloucester kept coming and Burns produced a lovely kick to the corner for Purdy to grab their fifth.

The scorers:

For Gloucester:

Tries: Ludlow, Burns 2, Polledri, Purdy

Cons: Twelvetrees 4

Pens: Twelvetrees 2

For London Irish:

Tries: Du Plessis, Paulo

Con: Bell

Pen: Bell

Red Card: David Paice (London Irish, 40)

Teams:

Gloucester: 15 Tom Hudson, 14 Henry Purdy, 13 Andy Symons, 12 Billy Twelvetrees, 11 Ollie Thorley, 10 Billy Burns, 9 Willi Heinz (captain), 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Lewis Ludlow, 6 Jake Polledri, 5 Jeremy Thrush, 4 Tom Savage, 3 John Afoa, 2 James Hanson, 1 Josh Hohneck. 

Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Paddy McAllister, 18 Gareth Denman, 19 Freddie Clarke, 20 Will Safe, 21 Ben Vellacott, 22 Matt Scott, 23 Mark Atkinson.

London Irish: 15 James Marshall, 14 Joe Cokanasiga, 13 Fergus Mulchrone, 12 Luke McLean, 11 Alex Lewington, 10 Tommy Bell, 9 Scott Steele, 8 Blair Cowan, 7 Max Northcote-Green, 6 Mike Coman, 5 Teofilo Paulo, 4 Franco van der Merwe, 3 Petrus du Plessis, 2 David Paice (captain), 1 Harry Elrington. 

Replacements: 16 Tom Woolstencroft, 17 Gordon Reid, 18 Ollie Hoskins, 19 Sebastian De Chaves, 20 Ofisa Treviranus, 21 Ben Meehan, 22 Greig Tonks, 23 Tom Fowlie. 

Referee: Ian Tempest

Assistant referees: Jack Makepeace, Philip Watters

TMO: Sean Davey

Exeter Chiefs 42-29 Bath

The Chiefs were running away with the contest at the halfway point as Luke Cowan-Dickie, James Short, Mitch Lees and Don Armand all crossed the whitewash in the first half.

Freddie Burns’ penalty was all the visitors could muster before the interval, but it did get a little better after that despite Thomas Waldrom scoring before the hour mark – meaning ‘the Tank’ has now touched down against every side in the Premiership during his career.

Gareth Steenson – who also knocked over a flawless six conversions – scored Exeter’s sixth, but four late tries from a battling Bath meant they did at least take a bonus point back home.

It was hooker Cowan-Dickie’s first start in a Chiefs jersey since their historic the Premiership Final victory at Twickenham, and he took no time at all to settle back in.

The four-time England international burrowed over with a pick-and-go, as Exeter piled on the pressure with 17 unbroken phases in Bath territory.

Steenson converted, and the pressure continued from there as Bath initially repelled a trademark Exeter rolling maul after 12 mins, but soon found the ball back in their own 22.

And Short collected Olly Woodburn’s pass behind him, fended off Anthony Watson one-handed and wriggled into the corner for his side’s second – Steenson again adding the extras.

A push in the lineout saw Bath awarded 28th-minute penalty and Burns got them on the scoreboard, but straight away the Chiefs went up the other end and scored a third.

Waldrom punched a hole through the middle and Exeter were again relentless inside the 22, Lees eventually the beneficiary to dive over through a mass of bodies under the posts.

With 30 minutes on the clock the Chiefs had enjoyed 69 per cent of the possession, and as the hosts’ forwards again drove for the line from short range over and over again, Armand sealed the four-try bonus point.

It took Exeter 15 minutes into the second period to score again, as Waldrom completed his career set to score against every defence in the Premiership, but when Joseph scored a breakaway try after forcing Woodburn to knock on Bath sniffed a chance of a point.

And despite Steenson collecting Short’s pass to score Exeter’s sixth in the corner moments later, Bath scored twice more quickly through Anthony Watson and Aled Brew – setting up an intriguing finish with Todd Blackadder desperate for a bonus.

Replacement Matt Banahan then came to the fore with just seconds remaining, as the powerful winger scythed through the hosts’ line from 22 metres out to notch the bonus-point clinching try.

The scorers:

For Exeter:

Tries: Cowan-Dickie, Short, Lees, Armand, Waldrom, Steenson

Cons: Steenson 6

For Bath:

Tries: Joseph, Watson, Brew, Banahan

Cons: Joseph, Priestland 2

Pen: Burns

Teams:

Exeter Chiefs: 15 Phil Dollman, 14 Olly Woodburn, 13 Ian Whitten, 12 Sam Hill, 11 James Short, 10 Gareth Steenson (captain), 9 Nic White, 8 Thomas Waldrom, 7 Matt Kvesic, 6 Don Armand, 5 Sam Skinner, 4 Mitch Lees, 3 Harry Williams, 2 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 1 Alec Hepburn. 

Replacements: 16 Jack Yeandle, 17 Ben Moon, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Jonny Hill, 20 Sam Simmonds, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Joe Simmonds, 23 Jack Nowell.

Bath: 15 Anthony Watson, 14 Semesa Rokoduguni, 13 Jonathan Joseph, 12 Ben Tapuai, 11 Aled Brew, 10 Freddie Burns, 9 Kahn Fotuali’i, 8 Paul Grant, 7 Zach Mercer, 6 Matt Garvey (captain), 5 Luke Charteris, 4 Charlie Ewels, 3 Anthony Perenise, 2 Tom Dunn, 1 Beno Obano. 

Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Nick Auterac, 18 Max Lahiff, 19 Elliott Stooke, 20 James Phillips, 21 Chris Cook, 22 Rhys Priestland, 23 Matt Banahan.

Referee: JP Doyle

Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Peter Allan

TMO: Claire Hodnett

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