Wins for Bath, Scarlets, Leicester and Gloucester
Monday 2 February 2015 14:44, UK
Debutant fly-half Rory Jennings slotted a late penalty to give Bath a 23-21 win over Harlequins in the LV=Cup.
Harlequins scored through Tom Williams and Charlie Walker, while veteran fly-half Nick Evans added 11 points from the boot.
Bath registered scores from Matt Banahan and a penalty try, while scrum-half Will Homer kicked 10 points for the visitors, but the last say went to Jennings who landed a late penalty to give Bath the win.
Bath took advantage of their hosts' slow start as Homer slotted an early penalty before they turned over the ball and Banahan scorched through the Quins defense to score. With Homer’s conversion, Bath were 10-0 with just four minutes on the clock.
However Harlequins soon woke up and roared back into the game after Evans showed some lovely skills to put Williams over in the corner. And with their tails up, Evans soon draw Quins level with a penalty on the half hour mark.
Karl Dickson then fed Walker who crashed over in the left corner to give Quins a 15-10 lead. Homer reduced Bath's deficit to two points before the break after Quins prop Darryl Marfo was penalised for failing to release at a ruck.
Evans added a penalty early in the second half with Homer dragging a three-point effort wide after a scything Horacio Agulla break forced Quins offside.
Evans added another penalty on the hour mark but failed with a reasonably easy effort three minutes later as Quins edged out to a 21-13 lead.
Bath responded with a series of powerful scrummages under the Quins posts giving the ref no option but to award the visitors a penalty try. Homer's conversion ensured there was just one point between the sides with 10 minutes remaining.
Jennings then had the final say with his winning kick after Quins were caught offside following a powerful Banahan break in the dying stages.
Leicester took a step closer to the LV= Cup semi-finals with a 17-8 victory at home to East Midlands rivals Northampton.
Their third successive win puts them on 13 points at the top of Pool Three and they will make the last four if Wasps lose at home to Cardiff on Sunday. Northampton top Pool Two but will lose top spot if Cardiff beat Wasps.
Leicester scored first-half tries through Sebastian De Chaves and Laurence Pearce, while Howard Packman replied with one in the second half for Saints.
Owen Williams kicked two conversions and a penalty for Leicester, Will Hooley a penalty for Northampton.
With both teams unbeaten and top of their pools on nine points, there was plenty at stake and the Tigers led 14-3 at the break thanks to tries from lock De Chaves and former Rotherham No 8 Pearce.
Leicester continued to go for tries after the break, twice turning down shots at goal, but their finishing let them down after the line-out.
They threw on some of their big guns, including prop Logovi'i Mulipola and scrum-half David Mele but was Northampton who scored, left winger Howard Packman winning the race for replacement Sam Olver's grubber kick. Olver missed the conversion.
There was plenty of huff and puff from both sides - errors too - but both defences were solid so with four minutes left Leicester opted to kick a penalty for the first time to give the 17-8 win.
Gloucester claimed a bonus 32-25 bonus-point victory over Ospreys at Kingsholm on Saturday
The home side scored four tries through Aled Thomas, a penalty try, Ollie Thorley and Dan Thomas.
Billy Burns kicked a penalty and three conversions with Aled Thomas kicking a late penalty as Gloucester held off a committed Ospreys revival.
The visitors picked up two yellow cards during the game, which helped to ensure that this was their third consecutive defeat in the competition, which has seen them already concede a total of 104 points and collect only two points.
Ben John, Richard Fussell and Tom Grabham scored their tries with Sam Davies adding two penalties and two conversions but it still left them facing a meaningless but stiff task away at Bath next Saturday.
Scarlets broke their LV= Cup duck by coming from behind to beat London Irish 27-18 at Parc y Scarlets on Saturday.
After defeats to Cardiff and Northampton, this was a morale-boosting victory – especially as they bounced back from being 13-6 behind and down to 13 men at half-time.
The home tries came from wing Harry Robinson, centre Adam Warren and replacement Kyle Evans. Fly-half Steven Shingler supplied 12 points with the boot.
London Irish scored tries through wing Andy Fenby and Theo Brophy-Clews, with Myles Dorrian kicking eight points.
Scarlets made a positive enough start as Shingler, who spent two seasons at London Irish, kicked the home side into an early 6-0 with penalties on three and 20 minutes.
But for the rest of the half a positive Exiles outfit put together some very impressive rugby, which culminated in Fenby going over by the posts for the opening try on 22 minutes.
Irish extended their lead with a Dorrian penalty three minutes later as Scarlets found themselves on the back foot. Things got worth for the hosts as Ken Owens went to the bin for collapsing a maul and then Shingler was sent to the sidelines for a deliberate knock-on.
Down to 13 men, the Scarlets were awarded a penalty straight after the restart but Frazier Climo missed his kick. But back to a full 15, the Scarlets began to impose themselves scoring two tries in the space of six minutes.
First Robinson went over the line before a fine break by scrum-half Rhodri Williams was finished off by Warren. Both tries were converted by Shingler as Llanelli led 20-13 on the hour mark.
Scarlets' remarkable comeback continued when Evans made the most of a defensive mix-up to pounce on a loose ball to score their third try on 68 minutes. Shingler converted with the home side extending their lead to 27-13.
Six minutes from time, replacement Brophy-Clews went over, but Dorrian missed the conversion.
