George Ford starred for Leicester Tigers against Exeter while Northampton Saints earned an impressive bonus-point win over Harlequins.
Leicester 20-13 Exeter
Leicester Tigers pulled off a 20-13 win over Exeter Chiefs in their Premiership clash at Welford Road on Saturday.
England fly-half George Ford starred for Tigers, scoring 10 critical points including a drop goal.
Chiefs fly-half Gareth Steenson opened the scoring with a penalty before Julian Salvi was sin binned, leaving the defending Premiership champions a man down. The home side pounced through a try from Nick Malouf.
Ford then slotted a drop goal just before half-time to give his side a seven point lead.
10 minutes into the second half, Ford landed a penalty kick before Exeter were awarded a penalty try that brought them back into the game and resulted in Telusa Veainu being sin-binned.
Exeter failed to pounce, so much so that England wing Jonny May went in for a Tigers score in the 67th minute.
Steenson nailed a three pointer after the final hooter though to secure his charges a losing bonus-point, but could not deny Leicester the win.
The scorers:
For Leicester Tigers:
Tries: Malouf, May
Cons: Ford 2
Pen: Ford
Drop goal: Ford
For Exeter Chiefs:
Tries: Penalty
Pen: Steenson
Leicester Tigers: 15 Telusa Veainu, 14 Nick Malouf, 13 Matt Smith, 12 Matt Toomua, 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Sione Kalamafoni, 7 Luke Hamilton, 6 Mike Williams, 5 Dom Barrow, 4 Harry Wells, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Tom Youngs (c), 1 Ellis Genge
Replacements: 16 George McGuigan, 17 Greg Bateman, 18 Logovi’i Mulipola, 19 Valentino Mapapalangi, 20 Brendon O’Connor, 21 Sam Harrison, 22 Joe Ford, 23 Mathew Tait
Exeter Chiefs: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Jack Nowell, 13 Henry Slade, 12 Ian Whitten, 11 Olly Woodburn, 10 Gareth Steenson, 9 Stuart Townsend, 8 Don Armand, 7 Julian Salvi, 6 Dave Dennis, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 MItch Lees, 3 Tomas Francis, 2 Jack Yeandle (c), 1 Ben Moon
Replacements: 16 Elvis Taione, 17 Alec Hepburn, 18 Harry Williams, 19 Sam Skinner, 20 Matt Kvesic, 21 Will Chudley, 22 Max Bodilly, 23 Phil Dollman
Referee: Thomas Foley
Assistant referees: Anthony Woodthorpe, Paul Dix
TMO: David Sainsbury
Northampton 30-22 Harlequins
Nothampton Saints earned a 30-22 win over Harlequins in their Premiership match in Franklin's Gardens on Saturday.
Saints scored four tries on their way to a critical bonus-point victory.
British and Irish Lions wing George North scored the first try of the game before Quins' Aaron Morris levelled proceedings before Marcus Smith gave them a two point advantage.
Tom Collins touched down for Saints 10 minutes later before Smith landed a penalty to reduce the deficit. Mike Haywood went over for Saints in the 38th minute before Jamie Roberts stole the half-time show with a 41st minute five-pointer.
Ahsee Tuala put Saints on the board first in the second-half with a try, followed by a Harry Mallinder penalty to give them some breathing room.
Dave Ward then scored a try for Quins after 64 minutes and this was followed by a scoreless period before Stephen Myler secured the 30-22 victory for Saints with a penalty.
The scorers:
For Northampton Saints:
Tries: North, Collins, Haywood, Tuala
Cons: Mallinder 2
Pens: Mallinder, Myler
For Harlequins:
Tries: Morris, Ward, Roberts
Cons: Smith 2
Pen: Smith
Northampton Saints: 15 Ahsee Tuala, 14 George North, 13 Rob Horne, 12 Luther Burrell, 11 Tom Collins 10 Harry Mallinder, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Teimana Harrison, 7 Jamie Gibson, 6 Courtney Lawes (c), 5 David Ribbans, 4 Michael Paterson, 3 Kieran Brookes, 2 Mikey Haywood, 1 Alex Waller
Replacements: 16 Reece Marshall, 17 Francois van Wyk, 18 Jamal Ford-Robinson, 19 Api Ratuniyarawa, 20 Sam Dickinson, 21 Cobus Reinach, 22 Stephen Myler, 23 Ben Foden
Harlequins: 15 Aaron Morris, 14 Marland Yarde, 13 Joe Marchant, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Tim Visser, 10 Marcus Smith, 9 Danny Care, 8 Mat Luamanu, 7 Jack Clifford, 6 Ben Glynn, 5 Charlie Matthews, 4 George Merrick, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Dave Ward (c), 1 Mark Lambert
Replacements: 16 Elia Elia, 17 Lewis Boyce, 18 Will Collier, 19 Dino Lamb, 20 Archie White, 21 Dave Lewis, 22 Tim Swiel, 23 Alofa Alofa
Referee: Luke Pearce
Assistant referees: Philip Watters, Simon McConnell
TMO: Graham Hughes
The post Impressive wins for Tigers and Saints appeared first on Planet Rugby.