Prem

The three players have arrived at Welford Road at contrasting times during their careers.

Wainwright is the new kid on the block despite, having played 70 internationals in a nine-year Wales career that includes a Grand Slam title and two Six Nations triumphs. He has also played at two World Cups.

Wainwright moved to Leicester after almost a decade at Dragons to join a growing influx of Wales’ top players in England.

Wales captains Dewi Lake and Jac Morgan have joined Gloucester, with Louis Rees-Zammit, Dafydd Jenkins, Tomos Williams, Nicky Smith, Rhys Carre, Archie Griffin, Tomas Francis and Christ Tshiunza among those also playing in the Prem.

Wainwright is in a lift-share with Reffell and fly-half Billy Searle.

“Reff is keeping keeping me company in the morning, so he’s doing a good job of helping me settle in,” said Wainwright.

“He has helped introduce me to everyone and it felt a bit like it was a first day at school.

“I was nervous but everyone’s been welcoming and I feel I have settled in.”

Wainwright made an instant impression with his team-mates on his debut after setting up Wales wing Gabriel Hamer-Webb with a try-scoring pass against Saracens.

“He moves like a back and hits like a forward,” said Hamer-Webb.

“He has this engine on him that just does not stop and that’s part of the Leicester Tigers DNA.

“He’s also got that soft touch that you saw when he assisted me against Saracens with that great pass.

“I have seen him play before but to be on the same pitch as him and see how he moves, he is phenomenal.”

Wainwright has also become a firm fans’ favourite, as indicated by an incident after the away victory at Newcastle.

“I saw some of the fans and there’s a few that had the headbands and wigs on and I had a photo,” said Wainwright.

“One of them just snuck me a packet of Welsh cakes to take home on the bus. That was a nice touch.”

The 29-year-old still has a fondness for his home city having opened a cafe in Newport.

He has also taken on a director of coaching role at his boyhood club Whiteheads RFC, despite living in a Leicestershire village almost three hours away.

Wainwright deserved his move after being such a loyal servant, playing in a Dragons side that was not used to winning. There were 33 victories, 97 defeats and eight draws in his 138 matches.

Leicester are preparing for the start of the Champions Cup matches away in Pau on Sunday, with Wainwright having never played in the top-tier competition.

He missed the only two Champions Cup games that Dragons played while he was at Rodney Parade, which came back in 2020.

Now, one of Wales’ elite back rowers is finally set to grace Europe’s elite tournament.

A progressive move down the right gave Gloucester fly-half Charlie Atkinson – three days after he signed a new deal committing his long-term future with the club – the opportunity to find Ben Loader free on the left with a pinpoint kick, and the winger dotted down to open the scoring.

Harlequins, in their desperation to keep Gloucester out on their own try line, lost Will Evans to the sin bin and mere seconds later Wales flanker Morgan barged over in the left corner to extend Gloucester’s lead.

On the stroke of half hour, Morgan’s strong carry allowed Will Trenholm to force over Gloucester’s third try from close range before George Barton slotted the conversio superbly from touch.

A spectacular 50:22 from scrum-half Caolan Englefield then put Gloucester in another great position and Charlie Atkinson broke a tackle to go over next to the sticks, as Barton kicked an easy extra two to give the hosts a 24-point advantage at half-time.

The interval did not change the momentum as two short passes saw Seb Atkinson race to the line and power over Gloucester’s fifth of the evening and Quins’ day was perhaps summed up best when Connor Slevin’s poor restart failed to go 10 metres.

Gloucester ruthlessly made their visitors pay once more as with their next attack Will Joseph’s outstanding run and offload allowed Englefield to dive over.

Joseph then grabbed the try his own performance deserved, diving in to the right of the posts to claim Gloucester’s seventh try and third inside 12 minutes after half-time.

Another kick to the corner from Charlie Atkinson found Barton who juggled successfully and managed to extend over for Gloucester’s eighth.

Joseph thought he had scored his second with the final act of the match to take Gloucester past 50 points, but his try was chalked off for a knock-on in the build up.

Gloucester: Barton; Thorley, Joseph, S. Atkinson, Loader; C. Atkinson, Englefield; Rapava-Ruskin, Lake (capt), Fasogbon, Kleyn, Clark, Thomas, Morgan, Trenholm.

Replacements: Innard, Bleuler, C. Knight, Clement, Ludlow, Robson, W. Knight, Denny.

Harlequins: Furbank; Anderson, Beard, Bradley, Murley (capt); Slevin, Porter; Hobson, Walker, Delgado, Dun, Browne, Kenningham, Evans, Carr.

Sin-bin: Evans (17 mins)

Replacements: Riley, Wenger, Kerrod, Petti, Cunningham-South, Friday, Lang, Green.

Referee: Sara Cox.

Bath director of rugby Johann van Graan told BBC Radio Somerset:

“It was a crazy game of rugby once again, Bath versus Exeter. We started the game really well but then they came out punching after half-time and scored three unanswered tries.

“But then that’s why this game is a 23-man effort as we then came back with the impact of our eight (subs) who made a really good difference, so I’m really happy with the five points.

“We’re very proud of our bench and numbers 16 to 23 at this club are just as important as numbers one to 15.”

Exeter Chiefs director of rugby Rob Baxter told BBC Radio Devon:

“The important emotion is I’m walking away going ‘we’ve got a team here and we’ve got something to work with’.

“Last week was such a patchy performance (losing 45-24 to Gloucester) but today we showed a lot of good qualities.

“The qualities of being in a fight to the death, that’s what Exeter Chiefs are about. Do you want to be perfect or do you want to be in a fight every single week? Well we’ll be in a fight every single week.

“I’m quite happy with that, that’s what we’re good at and I saw that today.”

Bath: Donoghue; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Redpath, de Glanville; Russell, van der Linde; Obano, Dunn, Stuart, Roux, Ewels (capt), Richards, Pepper, du Preez.

Replacements: Frost, Kirk, Griffin, Hill, Reid, Carr-Smith, Ojomoh, Coetzee.

Exeter: Woodburn; Feyi-Waboso, Slade, Butt, Wyatt; Skinner, Varney; Burger, Yeandle, Iosefa-Scott, Wilson, Jenkins (capt), E Roots, James, Fisilau.

Replacements: Gulley, Goodrick-Clarke, Tchumbadze, Beckerleg, Worley Brady, Wolstenholme, Haydon-Wood, Wimbush.

Sin-bin: Varney (61)

Referee: Luke Pearce

The Prem

Exeter (12) 24

Tries: Iosefa-Scott, E Roots, Varney, Gulley Cons: Slade 2

Gloucester (26) 45

Tries: Loader 2, S Atkinson, Lake 2, Joseph, Denny Cons: C Atkinson 4, Barton

Gloucester delivered an outstanding performance on the first weekend of the new Prem season to stun Exeter Chiefs at Sandy Park.

The Cherry and Whites only once won on the road last term as they finished eighth, but they matched that immediately with this superb showing.

Summer arrival, and new captain and Wales skipper, Dewi Lake led the way with two of their seven tries.

Winger Ben Loader helped himself to two, while Seb Atkinson, a fine solo effort from Will Joseph and a debut try from Junior Denny completed their try haul.

Exeter finished as runners-up last season after losing to Northampton Saints in the final in June, but they were well beaten.

Josh Iosefa-Scott and Ethan Roots grabbed their first-half scores before Stephen Varney and then Louie Gulley ensured they at least managed a bonus point.

After a few years in the doldrums, Exeter had a thrilling spring and summer with their unexpected run to The Prem final at Twickenham. With new American investment at Sandy Park, hopes are high about the direction of travel in Devon but this was a rude awakening to the new season for Rob Baxter’s team.

The Cherry and Whites had a miserable campaign in limping home in eighth and they have not reached the play-offs for seven years, but the acquisition of Wales pair Lake and Jac Morgan has increased belief for the new campaign.

That was in evidence in their positive start as they worked the ball from one corner to the other, with Ben Redshaw’s kick bouncing up perfectly for Loader to finish.

A sustained spell of phases eventually resulted in Iosefa-Scott driving over from close range for the hosts before a smart kick over the top from scrum-half Caolan Englefield allowed England centre Atkinson to win a foot race and touch down as Gloucester regained the lead.

Loader’s second try extended that advantage as he showed impressive footwork to conjure up another fine kick towards the left corner and dive over.

Gloucester had produced an impressive opening half, but Roots grabbed a second try for the hosts as the flanker found himself on the wing with nobody able to stop his charge.

However, there was still time for the men from Kingsholm to secure a bonus point by the break as captain Lake brilliantly went over in the corner after he had turned down a kick at goal to earn a 26-12 interval lead

Lake’s influence in his new team was there for all to see as he was at the back of a driving maul to grab his second try for a dominant Gloucester.

Joseph then scored the try of the game with a brilliant burst of speed from inside his own half that took him outside and inside three defenders.

Varney quickly grabbed Exeter’s third try and with visiting flanker Freddie Thomas sin-binned for the final 10 minutes, replacement hooker Gulley went over on his Prem debut to ensure the Chiefs at least claimed a bonus point.

However, that debut try was matched by 18-year-old winger Denny, who scored with the last play of the game to seal Gloucester’s first win in Devon since 2015.

Exeter: Hammersley; Feyi-Waboso, Salde, Butt, Woodburn; Skinner, Varney; Burger, Yeandle, Iosefa-Scott, Jenkins (capt), Wilson, E Roots, James, Fisilau.

Replacements: Gulley, Goodrick-Clarke, J Roots, Beckerleg, Bailey, Murray, Haydon-Wood, Wimbush.

Gloucester: Redshaw; Jospeh, Cokanasiga, S Atkinson, Loader; C Atkinson, Englefield; Rapava-Ruskin, Lake (capt), Fasagbon, Kleyn, Clark, F Thomas, Morgan, Trenholm.

Replacements: Innard, Bleuler, Knight, Clement, Ludlow, Robson, Denny, Barton.

Yellow card: F Thomas (71)

Referee: Matthew Carley

Northampton Saints’ Tommy Freeman told BBC Radio Northampton:

“Good start and lots of points on the board which good to see but I think there is loads more in us which is what we said at half-time, but overall a good result.

“Our set piece we need to tighten up a bit on that first phase. Defensively we were caught a bit tight, but credit to Newcastle for stressing us in those areas but we would like to see better movement.

“It is always a challenge and going back-to-back [titles] is not done by many teams. There is a reason for that but we will be looking to take each week as it comes and keep putting our DNA on the pitch.”

Newcastle head coach Dan McFarland told BBC Radio Newcastle:

“We put a lot of good stuff out there but we were tested today by a really, really good team. We know where we stand now and where we’ve got to work. We have a long jounrey ahead of us and that was the first step.

“It was a fantastic score when we had a length of the field try and that was really us and we also had a lot of defensive sets where we had showed really good scramble and stopped them from scoring.

“But the game is up and down. We had that yellow card and then we had three tries which were scored during that yellow, and the try just before half-time was a real killer.

“Maybe we left a couple of tries out there but there is plenty in that that we will take away and see as a real positive.”

Northampton: Pater, Freeman, Hutchinson, Dingwall, Hendy, F Smith, McParland, Iyogun, Langdon, Kundiona, Coles, Prowse, Kemeny, Pollock, Chick

Replacements: R Smith, Fischetti, Neculai, Lockett, Taylor, Mitchell, Belleau, Sleightholme.

Newcastle: Obatoyinbo, Wade, Hearle, Harris, Kok, Connon, Elliott, Rakete-Stones, McGuigan, Millar Mills, Usher, Jordan, Hicks, Christie, Graham.

Replacements: Fletcher, West, Harper, Molina, Leatherbarrow, Cruz, Henry, Sotutu.

Sin bin: Obatoyinbo (14), Rakete-Stones (43)

Referee: Anthony Woodthorpe.

The Prem

Harlequins (10) 17

Tries: Porter, Cunningham-South, Delgado Cons: Slevin

Bath (28) 33

Tries: Du Preez, Cokanasiga, Carreras, Frost, Richards Cons: Russell 4

A terrific try from full-back Santiago Carreras was the highlight of Bath’s opening night 33-17 bonus-point victory over Harlequins.

The Argentina international intercepted a Tyrone Green pass with his boot, kicking the ball into the air before collecting it one-handed before it went out of play and smoothly accelerating away to score under the posts in a real moment of magic.

Dan du Preez, Joe Cokanasiga and Dan Frost added first-half tries for Bath who led 28-10 at the break, with Will Porter and Chandler Cunningham-South replying for Quins.

Pedro Delgado reduced the gap to 11 points early in the second half but Ewan Richards’ late try ensured it would be Bath who started the new season with a win.

More to follow.

Harlequins: Green; Anderson, Beard, Bradley, Murley (c); Slevin, Porter; Hobson, Walker, Delgado, Dun, Browne, Kenningham, Evans, Cunningham-South.

Replacements: Riley, Wenger, Johnson-Holmes, Treadwell, Petti, Friday, Bellamy, Isgro.

Sin-bin: Riley (53)

Bath: Carreras; Cokanasiga, Lawrence, Ojomoh, De Glanville; Russell, Carr-Smith; Obano, Frost, Stuart, Hill, Ewels (c), Bayliss, Underhill, Du Preez.

Replacements: Tuipulotu, Kirk, Griffin, Richards, Pepper, Van der Linde, Redpath, Reid.

Referee: Karl Dickson