Aviva Premiership Sat 24th Oct

Northampton 42-16 Newcastle 

Two tries each from Christian Day and Ben Foden have led Northampton Saints to a 42-16 victory over Newcastle Falcons. Northampton dominated the opening stages and Day crossed the line in the fourth minute to start the scoring. Steven Myler, who converted Day's try, added six more points from two penalties when Newcastle twice came in offside. 

Mike Delany kicked three penalties through the posts before half time, before Myler took the half-time score to 16-9 in Saints' favour. Todd Clever was sin-binned in the 51st minute, and Day made Newcastle pay three minutes later when he touched down after a driving maul. 

Luther Burrell added another try just five minutes later, and Foden secured the bonus point after consultation from the TMO. Tom Penny grabbed a consolation try with 14 minutes remaining after Chris Harris broke through the Northampton defence. Foden added his second, and Northampton's fifth, in the 71st minute after a scrum on the five-yard line. 


Wasps 16-9 Bath 

Wasps struck league hopefuls Bath an early blow as they defeated them 16-9 at the Ricoh Arena this afternoon. Wasps scored the only try of the game through a penalty try after Nikola Matawalu was shown a yellow card for obstruction. Tom Homer missed a penalty early on before Christian Wade almost got Wasps' first try after knocking the ball dead following a promising chip and chase. George Ford kicked a penalty either side of two from Jimmy Gopperth, before Bath threatened through Anthony Watson but the Wasps defence held firm. 

Gopperth missed two kickable penalties after half-time as the Coventry-based outfit came out in the second half firing, looking to capitalise on any Bath mistake. That mistake came after a Bath clearance kick was charged down and Matawalu, on debut, was shown a yellow card for pulling back Nathan Hughes, gifting Wasps a penalty try. 

Gopperth converted the try and a quick penalty, before Ford clawed six points back with two penalties of his own to bring Bath to within a converted try. Bath pushed Wasps all the way but a scrum penalty in the final play of the game allowed Gopperth to clear to touch and win the game for the home side. The result means that Wasps now lie in fourth in the Aviva Premiership, overtaking Bath in fifth. 


Exeter 38-11 London Irish

Exeter Chiefs touched down six tries against London Irish this evening to record a 38-11 victory. Gareth Steenson was the first player to go over the line for the Chiefs, splitting the Irish defence afer being set up by his forwards before missing his own conversion. London fly-half Chris Noakes replied with a penalty, before Don Armand touched down for Exeter after an effective rolling maul brought Rob Baxter's side close to London Irish's try line. Immediately after Steenson popped over a penalty, Luke Cowan-Dickie scored the Chiefs' third try of the first half. 

Steenson added the extra, with Noakes sending over another penalty to leave the scores at 19-6 after 40 minutes. James Short finished off an Exeter move immediately after the second half began, touching down in the corner after quick passing allowed the Chiefs to break through London's defence. Steenson converted once more but missed a further attempt in the 49th minute following Jack Nowell's first try. 

Blair Cowan, who lined out for Scotland in their defeat to South Africa last weekend, touched down after 54 minutes for London Irish's only try of the game. Jack Nowell recorded a brace in the dying moments of the game with Steenson making no mistake from this conversion attempt, to give the Chiefs a 38-11 victory.