Bristol lay down a marker as they beat Gallagher Prem champions Northampton 41-26 with Louis Rees-Zammit scoring twice; in an abject performance Harlequins lose 48-0 to Gloucester; Leicester beat Newcastle 24-19 Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit played a starring role as Bristol posted an early-season statement win by beating Gallagher Prem champions Northampton 41-26 at Ashton Gate. Rees-Zammit followed up his two tries against opening opponents Sale Sharks with another double to put Bristol on the way to a bonus-point success. He also shone in defence as Bristol largely nullified Northampton’s free-flowing game, while Harry Randall, Gabriel Oghre and Tom Jordan added further Bristol tries, and there was also a penalty try, with James Williams kicking three conversions and a penalty. Northampton trailed by just a point at half-time and were in contention throughout but they ultimately came up short despite scores from George Hendy (2), Alex Mitchell and Josh Kemeny, while Fin Smith booted three conversions.
Saints finished with 13 players following yellow cards for Tommy Freeman and Ion Neculai. Rees-Zammit’s second touchdown took Bristol past 30 points, yet Northampton served a reminder that they were not quite out of it through substitute Mitchell’s score 16 minutes from time that Smith converted before Kemeny scored and further ruffled the home team. Bristol, though, had done enough to make it two wins from two in the Prem and set themselves up for an appointment with Saracens next time out, sealing it through a penalty try following an illegal challenge from Freeman on Rees-Zammit. Gloucester continued their impressive start to the Gallagher Prem season by handing out a 48-0 thrashing to hapless Harlequins at Kingsholm.
The eight-try win followed up their impressive opening-day victory over Exeter at Sandy Park – but that success was far more meritorious as Harlequins were incredibly poor on the day. Quins were outplayed in every aspect of the game and never looked like opening their tally. They were without a few leading players including England internationals Marcus Smith and Alex Dombrandt, but it will take time for them to recover from this. Ben Loader, Jac Morgan, Will Trenholm, Charlie Atkinson, Seb Atkinson, Will Joseph, Caolon Engefield and George Barton were all on the tryscoring sheet, with Barton converting four.
Leicester clinched their first Gallagher Prem win of the season with a 24-19 victory over Newcastle. Making his Newcastle bow in front of a sold-out Kingston Park, Obi Ene crossed early on, but the Tigers soon took control as tries from Samiuela Moli and Adam Radwan along with a Billy Searle penalty handed them a 17-5 lead at the break. George McGuigan went over in the second half for Newcastle, but Will Hurd’s try extended Leicester’s advantage and they withstood a late scare when Cam Jordan crossed for the hosts in the last 10 minutes. The Tigers managed to see the game out to move into fifth after two Prem matches, while Newcastle slipped to a second successive league defeat.
