High Scoring Day In The Premiership Sees Exeter, Harelquins & Gloucester Claim Bonus Point Victories
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Sunday's Premiership action saw 27 tries being scored across just three games with Exeter dotting down NINE times against Worcester Warriors.
The day's action kicked off at The Stoop with Harlequins claiming a 30-17 victory over Northampton Saints with Chris Ashton, Mike Brown and Danny Care all starring in the victory over Chris Boyd's side.
Rob Baxter will be a happy man with his putting in a clinical performance to brush Worcester Warriors aside with the Chiefs maintaining a perfect record since the resumption of the competition. Two of his forwards both claimed a hattrick in the clash with second-rower Jonny Hill becoming the first lock since 2003 to score three tries with Simon Shaw doing so for Wasps against Saracens while Sam Simmonds also dotted down three times.
The final game of the day saw another record being broken as Ollie Thorley scored the quickest four-try haul in Premiership Rugby history dotting reaching the milestone in half an hour.
Harlequins 30-17 Northampton
Harlequins got back to winning ways with a bonus-point victory over Northampton Saints. Northampton Saints opened the scoring with Rory Hutchinson scoring after running a neat support line off a clean break from centre partner Matt Proctor. James Grayson added the extras as the Saints marched to a 7-0 lead after 6 minutes.
Quins responded through a Marcus Smith penalty 10 mnutes later before a quick tap from fullback Mike Brown saw Alex Dombrandt crash into Saints’ defence. The ball was shifted back to Brown who spread the ball to out wide to Nathan Earle who dotted down for Quins first try - Smith added the extras.
Saints struck back after 30 minutes of action with Ryan Olowofela receiving a miss pass across the face of the Quins defensive line from fly-half Grayson. Saints led 14-10. Quins had the final say of the half as Scott Baldwin bundled over the try line from a rolling maul with Smit's attempt at adding the extras coming off the upright. Smith did, however, manage to make amends to slot a three pointer as Harlequins took a 18-14 advantage at the break.
Chris Robshaw got his name on the scoresheet diving over the line in the corner after an excellent break from Marcus Smith. The pivot pushed the lead to 23-14. Some excellent footwork by Mike Brown and an even better offload saw Alex Dombrandt canter through the defence before the ball was spread out to Chris Ahston who performed his first Ash Splash at The Stoop.
View this post on InstagramDanny Care calls out Chris Ashton for his AshSplash with no fans at the Stoop #Banter
Saints look to be on the way to a losing bonus when Grayson reduced the deficit to 13 points and the Saints continued to press for a converted try but the Quins pack shut them out to secure the win.
Exeter 59-7 Worcester
A near-flawless performance, Rob Baxter's men secure their fourth straight win since the return of the Premiership and stretched their lead at the top to 11 points. Forwards Jonny Hill and Sam Simmonds both bagged try hat-tricks on the day, while Jack Nowell, Stuart Hogg and Jacques Vermeulen added further efforts in a stellar showing from the Devonians. Visiting Worcester Warriors were simply no match for their hosts in this one-sided drubbing - their sole crumb of comfort was a converted Ashley Beck try late in the game.
The hosts had the bonus point wrapped up inside 30 minutes as Simmonds twice went over along with Hill's first and an excellent try by Jack Nowell. Hill completed his hat-trick late in the first half before Stuart Hogg crossed 30 seconds after the restart.
Jacques Vermeulen got the eighth try and Simmonds added his third before Ashley Beck scored the consolation.
Gloucester 46-30 Leicester
Gloucester blew Leicester away in the first half and managed to cling on in the second half as Leicester made an almighty comeback.
Joe Simpson, Chris Harris and Ollie Thorley all got over in the first half, with the winger scoring four tries. Changes at the break saw the Tigers' two England halfbacks improve their performance as they came back from being 36-6 down at one point.
The Tigers took control of the game in the second half with tries from Harry Potter, Jordan Taufua and Cameron Henderson but Lloyd Evans's try stopped the bleeding for Gloucester as Billy Twelvetrees conversion put Gloucester Rugby comfortably ahead at full time.
