Harlequins picked up their first win of the Gallagher Premiership season with a 28-14 win over Newcastle Falcons at the Stoop on Saturday.
A 21-year-old Cassius Cleaves was one of several standouts for the hosts, as well as a player-of-the-match performance from Will Evans.
After starting on the bench in their campaign opener against Sale Sharks, Marcus Smith reclaimed the fly-half reins and helped steer his side to a commanding first-half lead with 21 unanswered points, with the bonus point coming within a minute of the second half.
Falcons sprung the first score at the Stoop to take the lead within five minutes. Some poor spacing from Lennox Anyanwu allowed Adam Radwan to step his way into Quins’ 22, and some quick rucking opened up a gap for John Hawkins to take an offload and crash over the try line.
Newcastle continued to cause Quins some unexpected problems, with centre Sammy Arnold proving to be a handful in the midfield.
As he left the pitch for a head injury assessment, Quins won a scrum penalty and kicked to the corner. On his first Premiership start, Nathan Jibulu dived over in the corner from a clean lineout move for Quins’ opening try.
Another lineout eight minutes later produced the hosts’ second score as Evans went over from close range, the Quins maul drifting inside and allowing the flanker to dot down at the ensuing ruck.
Having blunted Newcastle’s early energy with their physicality and set-piece control, Harlequins could unleash their offensive play and did so to perfection for their third try.
Leigh Halfpenny scored his first Premiership try thanks to young gun Cleaves, who hit the wide edges of the Falcons’ defence and offloaded to the Welsh veteran from five metres out.
Cleaves had his hand in the fourth try for Quins, once again escaping Newcastle in the wide channels before passing back inside to Oscar Beard to give a simple pass for Will Porter to secure the bonus point.
Having had little to do offensively after their early score and a yellow card handed out to Elliott Obatoyinbo, the visitors picked up a lovely second try midway through the second half as Ben Redshaw found a rare gap in Quins’ defence and picked up a consolation try.
Saracens TRIUMPH IN 70-POINT SALE SHOWDOWN
Saracens turned a tight contest with Sale Sharks into a 45-26 win with a dominant second-half performance.
Alex Lozowski picked up a deserved player-of-the-match award thanks to an excellent performance both off the boot and from his offensive output. After having been Owen Farrell’s deputy for several years, this could be the year that the 31-year-old finally finds his feet as the leader of Saracens’ backline.
George Ford and Lozowski traded penalties in the opening 10 minutes in a cagey first half that produced only one try.
But within seven minutes the tie had been turned on its head for Sale as Ford was forced off with an injury, no doubt tearing up Alex Sanderson’s plans.
Despite that, Sale picked up the first try, with Gus Warr on the end of a quickfire move. Rob du Preez sliced through Saracens and passed to Sam Bedlow, who was able to pop the ball off the floor to the scrum-half who dotted down under the posts.
Lozowski added two more penalties, with Elliot Daly adding a trademark long-range penalty against the wind, only for Du Preez to score one in the 44th minute and send Sale to the changing rooms ahead by a point.
Lozowski scored two more three-pointers at the outset of the second half before assisting Tobias Elliot’s second Premiership try with a beautiful pass over the top of Sale’s defence for the 21-year-old to score in the corner.
Sale fired back with a dominant maul to move back within four points of the hosts. Saracens tried to make a mess of the Sharks’ maul but the pack held tight and Luke Cowan-Dickie crashed over.
Saracens immediately rendered the try pointless as Daly fired back with a try, latching onto a perfectly placed kick towards Sale’s try line by Alex Goode – the 36-year-old proving he has plenty left to offer following Farrell’s departure.
With nine points separating the sides and 10 minutes left on the clock, a 70th-minute try from Jamie George, who lurked at the end of an unstoppable Saracens maul, was essentially confirmation of the win.
Even though Tom O’Flaherty scored in the corner for a consolation score, he touched down 30 seconds before the clock hit 80 and Saracens decided to hunt for the bonus point.
Elliot beautifully captured the restart and Saracens’ pressure saw Sam Dugdale receive a red card, allowing Daly to score his second try in the same corner as the first and seal the bonus point for Saracens.
NORTHAMPTON SEE OF LACKLUSTRE EXETER
Reigning champions Northampton Saints picked up their first win of the season with a 30-24 win over Exeter Chiefs on Saturday evening.
Saints bounced back from a disappointing loss to Bath last week and produced a physical defensive display to keep Chiefs quiet, save for two late tries.
Saints managed to put up a 13-0 lead in the opening 30 minutes. A try in the eighth minute for Alex Coles was followed by two penalties from Fin Smith.
Chiefs were on the verge of heading into half-time scoreless until Olly Woodburn’s try in the 35th minute. Sam Skinner sliced his way through and the winger sat on his shoulder for a pass inside and he strolled over.
Josh Hodge opened the second half with a penalty for the visitors, putting them three points behind Northampton, but just two minutes later Saints landed a killer blow with Chunya Munga charging down Sam Maunder’s box kick to score.
Chiefs were clearly stunned and just four minutes after Munga’s score, Rory Hutchinson caught a beautifully weighted kick from George Furbank to touch down in the corner.
In the blink of an eye, Exeter had seen a three-point deficit turn to a 17-point one and Saints had promptly shut the door on their comeback.
Despite a late surge from Exeter, who turned on the style much too late with two tries from Immanuel Feyi-Waboso in the 68th and 76th minutes, Saints had done too much damage and held on for the win with several excellent defensive sets.
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