Gallagher Premiership week two round-up

Peter Moore rounds up the second week of action in the Gallagher Premiership.

Week two of the Gallagher Premiership kicked off with a West Country derby between Bath and Exeter Chiefs at The Rec on Friday evening.

On a wet night it was Bath who took the bragging rights with a narrow 13-10 victory.

Exeter opened the scoring when Jonny Hill powered over from close range. Joe Simmonds added the extras as Chiefs got their noses in front early after Rhys Priestland’s early penalty.

However, Chiefs saw their lead disappear shortly before the break when Tom Dunn drove over, with Priestland landing the conversion the sides went into the break all square at ten apiece.

Another penalty kick from the Bath number ten was enough to secure victory for the hosts, who bounced back from their opening round defeat to Bristol Bears.

On Saturday, Northampton Saints backed up their impressive opening day victory against Saracens with a bonus point 35-16 win against the visiting Worcester Warriors at Franklin’s Gardens.

Despite falling behind 9-6 at the break, tries from Tom Collins and Taqele Naiyaravoro in the space of eight minutes pushed the hosts in front. Three quick-fire tries in only eight minutes followed through a brace from George Furbank and replacement Ollie Sleightholme, securing the bonus-point try victory for the home side. There was a late consolation from Warriors Francois Venter who had the final say for the visitors in what proved to be a bad fourty minutes for Worcester.

A brace of tries from both Tom Marshall and Joe Simpson against his former club gave Gloucester a bonus-point victory against Wasps at Kingsholm, with the home side running out comfortable 25-9 winners on Saturday.

Very wet conditions made handling difficult, but the Cherry and Whites adapted the better of the sides to the conditions.

Wasps could only register just three Lima Sopoaga penalties for their efforts, as they lost for the second game in a row.

Marcus Smith kicked 17 points as Harlequins defeated Bristol Bears 22-17 at a very wet Stoop on Saturday.

Both sides struggled to keep the ball in hand for long periods and a quiet opening 40 minutes yielded just three penalties apiece from Smith and Bears Callum Sheedy.

After the break Smith’s boot edged Quins into a 15-12 lead before a moment of brilliance from Argentinian International Martin Landajo, with a sublime perfectly weighted kick, was dotted down by Joe Marchant.

Bristol’s response was almost immediate when Jake Heenan touched down in the corner, but the hosts survived a frantic finish from the visitors to pick up their first win of the campaign.

Sale Sharks ran in six tries to ease past London Irish 41-7 at the Madejski Stadium on Saturday.

By the break Sharks had raced into a 20-0 lead, after Akker Van Der Merwe had opened the scoring in the 13^th minute. Further tries from Denny Solomona and Marland Yarde gave the visitors a comfortable cushion at the interval.

Sale started the second half as they ended the first when lock Josh Beaumont grabbed his side a bonus point after running over 20 meters to score. Just over the hour mark Rob Du Preez crossed, and despite a consolation Ruan Botha try for the hosts, Rohan Janse Van Rensberg went over for Sharks to round of a very rewarding afternoon for Sale.

On Sunday, Saracens returned back to winning ways with a 24-10 victory over Leicester Tigers at Welford Road.

It was the home side who opened the scoring through a Noel Reid penalty in the seventh minute. Ten minutes later Sarries responded when Nick Tompkins went over.

After the break Saracens Ben Earle ran 30 metres to dot down for his first try of the afternoon. With just 20 minutes to go Tigers threatened a comeback when Manu Vunipola ran unopposed to go over, but Saracens made sure of the victory when Nathan Earle went over to cap a fine day for himself and Sarries.

After the opening two rounds of the Premiership there are just two sides, Northampton and Gloucester, remaining with a one hundred per cent record with both Wasps and Leicester still yet to open their account.