Harlequins 26-21 Wasps
Harlequins have started the 2015-16 Aviva Premiership campaign with a 26-21 win over Wasps at The Stoop, holding off a late comeback from the visiting side.
Jake Cooper-Woolley scored the opening try of the night as Wasps tried to get off to a strong start, squeezing his way across the line inside the opening 20 minutes. Having already kicked two early penalties for the hosts, Nick Evans extended Harlequins' lead when he met a kick forward from Karl Dickson before leaping across in the corner. Evans was involved again in the second half as he offloaded the ball to George Lowe, setting the centre up for Quins' second try of the night, putting them nine points ahead.
Two more penalties from Evans left Wasps facing a big deficit heading into the final five minutes, but Elliot Daly opened his account for the season for close the gap, but the visitors could not force another score in the closing moments.
Worcester Warriors 13-12 Northampton Saints
A last-minute drop goal from Tom Heathcote has given Worcester Warriors a narrow 13-12 win over Northampton Saints in their first match since winning promotion back to the Aviva Premiership.
The visitors made a bright start to the match, with Stephen Myler adding two penalties following some early errors from the newly-promoted Warriors. Worcester soon started to dominate the possession though, setting up captain GJ van Velze to ground the ball following a maul, giving him a try again his old club.
The home side were penalised following a scrum early in the second half, allowing Myler to go for the posts again, closing the gap to one point, but points-scoring opportunities remained scarce for both sides, with neither side adding to score again until the last two minutes. It looked like Northampton were going to snatch a last-gasp win when Myler kicked his fourth penalty of the match, putting the visitors in front for the first time in the second half.
However, Heathcote got a sighting at the posts from 25 metres out, kicking it through with the final action of the meeting to hand the hosts the narrowest of victories.
Newcastle Falcons 27-39 Gloucester
Billy Twelvetrees kicked 29 points to lead Gloucester Rugby to a 39-27 win over Newcastle Falcons in their opening fixture of the new Aviva Premiership season this evening.
Gloucester saw the majority of the ball in the opening 20 minutes, but had to settle for penalty kicks, with Twelvetrees booting the ball through four times. The visitors got their opening try on the board when Willi Heinz played the ball out wide to Matt Kvesic, setting the flanker up for a short dash across the line.
Charlie Sharples was over just three minutes later, with Bill Meakes setting the winger up for a sprint over as Gloucester started to run away with proceedings. Newcastle started to see more Gloucester territory in the second half, allowing Simon Hammersley to close the gap shortly after the restart, before Chris Harris broke free to race over for a second Falcons try.
Twelvetrees continued to put in a clinical performance with the boot for the visitors, adding nine penalties and a conversion with five minutes remaining, but a late try from George McGuigan gave Newcastle hope, but they were unable to find a fourth try in the final moments, allowing Gloucester to hold on for the win.
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