Gallagher Premiership week ten round-up

Despite the whole country being gripped by Storm Denis, all six Gallagher Premiership matches were given the ok to go ahead as planned.

The weekends action started on Friday evening when Exeter Chiefs visited Kingsholm to face Gloucester and came away with a 26-15 victory.

Stuart Hogg scored on his return to Exeter colours after Jacques Vermeulen muscled his way over against the run of play. Gareth Stenson then added three quick penalties for Chiefs at the start of the second half to give the visitors a firm foothold into the game.

Exeter continued to dominate the game as Hogg, back from Scotland Six Nations Duty, crossed. There was still time for Gloucester to bag two late tries through Jake Polledri and Louis Rees-Zammit but it was too little too late as Gloucester slipped to their sixth defeat in the last eight Premiership matches.

Fellow strugglers Leicester Tigers heaped more misery on Wasps, who allowed a half-time lead to slip as Tigers defeated Wasps 18-9 at Welford Road on Saturday.

Full Back Telusa Veainu’s try sealed victory for Leicester who narrowed the gap on their Midlands rivals.
It was the visitors who held a narrow 6-3 lead at the break, before adding a further three points to give the visitors the advantage. There was to be no further points for Wasps as a driving maul saw loosehead Greg Bateman go over with Veainu racing 60 meters to score right at the end, to give Tigers just their third win in the Premiership.

Zach Mercer returned from a four-month layoff with a try in Bath’s narrow 22-21 win against Worcester Warriors at Sixways on Saturday.

It took just 90 seconds for the No 8 to dot down after returning to the side after suffering a long-term knee injury. Cornell Du Preez also crossed for Bath as the visitors went into the break with a 13-10 lead.

Francois Louw increased the visitor’s advantage before Josh McNally went over to give Bath a 22-13 lead. A Duncan Weir penalty reduced the gap and when Nick David sprinted into the corner for his Premiership debut try for Worcester, the hosts had cut the deficit to just a single point.

Weir failed to put his side ahead with the conversion, but they had one last chance to snatch victory with the final kick of the game with Chris Pennell deciding to have a 60-metre shot at the posts, but the ball drifted wide.

Saracens defeated Sale Sharks 36-22 at Allianz Park on Saturday, with Manu Vunipola running the show.

The home side went into the break with a 14-10 lead, then put a further ten points on the board in seven minutes to put the match to bed. Rhys Carre went over for Sarries after only a minute, with further second half tries from Rotimi Segun, Nick Isiekwe and the try bonus point scored by Richard Barrington after 66 minutes, the hosts were always to strong for Sharks.

Sale had some scant consolation with three tries in the windy conditions with Robert Du Preez, Byron McGuigan and Dan Du Preez all going over.

Harlequins hopes of reaching the top four were dented as the curse of London Irish struck again.
A couple of years ago to the day Irish humbled Quins 35-5 on home soil, and once again the Exiles proved to strong for Harlequins, running out 29-15 winners at the Stoop.

Matt Rogerson scored the opening try of the game for the Exiles who increased their lead when Curtis Rona went over to give the visitors a healthy 17-3 lead at the interval.

After 50 minutes Harlequins hit back when Alex Dombrandt powered over, with Smith successful from the tee the gap was down to seven points. Hopes of a revival lasted 11 minutes when Rona grabbed his second of the game.

Quins hit back when Cadan Murley went over, but the last word went to Oliver Hoskins who sealed the try bonus point for Irish at the death.

Bristol Bears staged a stunning fightback from 14 points down to record a 20-14 victory against Northampton Saints at Franklin Gardens on Sunday.

Harry Mallinder opened the scoring for Saints after just five minutes, and the hosts never looked back in a dominant first half, going into the break with a 11-0 lead.

Within a couple of minutes of the restart Saints had added another three points to their total. Northampton had Rory Hutchinson yellow carded, and this seemed to kick start Bears after tries from Henry Purdy and Lewis Thiede had nudged them ahead. A late Callum Sheedy conversion and an Ian Madigan penalty kick was enough to cap an astonishing comeback from Bristol.