Wales wing Louis Rees-Zammit scored a double as Bristol Bears posted an early-season statement win, beating Gallagher Premiership champions Northampton Saints 41-26 at Ashton Gate. Rees-Zammit followed up his tries against Sale Sharks with another double to put Bristol on the way to a bonus-point success. Harry Randall, Gabriel Oghre and Tom Jordan added further Bristol tries, alongside 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 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 they were not quite out of it through substitute Mitchell's score 16 minutes from time that Smith converted before Kemeny scored.
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 Premiership 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, with Ben Loader, Jac Morgan and Will Joseph among the try-scorers, with Barton converting four.
Leicester clinched their first Gallagher Premiership win of the season with a 24-19 victory over Newcastle. Making his Newcastle bow, 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.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing