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Cipriani inspires Gloucester as Bahanan denies Bath, Vunipola scores on Saracens return
Bath were denied victory over local rivals Gloucester by a familiar face, while Billy Vunipola marked his return to action with a try for Saracens on a busy Saturday in the Premiership.
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Tom Dunn scored two tries as Bath fought back from a 21-0 deficit to lead 31-24 going into the closing minutes, but former player Matt Banahan denied them with a score created by a sensational no-look pass from Danny Cipriani.
Ooooh @DannyCipriani87 ?
WHAT. A. PASS. ?
The man is playing with wing mirrors on ? pic.twitter.com/5njY1qBhyV
— Rugby on TNT Sports (@rugbyontnt) September 8, 2018
Billy Twelvetrees kicked the conversion to level the scores at the Rec, securing Gloucester – who recorded an impressive win over Northampton Saints in the opening round of fixtures – a dramatic 31-31 draw.
Bristol Bears looked to be on course for an upset when they led Saracens 18-13 at half-time, only for the reigning champions to hit back.
Liam Williams scored a 25-minute hat-trick off the bench as Sarries claimed a bonus-point triumph against the top-flight new boys, though the hosts were aided by the dismissal of Bristol’s George Smith for a dangerous tackle early in the second half.
Replacement Vunipola also touched down on his comeback from a broken arm suffered on England’s tour to South Africa in June, while international team-mate Owen Farrell booted four conversions and a pair of penalties.
Match action | He's back! ??? @bvunipola pic.twitter.com/XRyYPGTFRq
— Saracens Rugby Club (@Saracens) September 8, 2018
Last year’s beaten finalists Exeter Chiefs have started the campaign impressively, their second successive bonus-point triumph coming away at Wasps.
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Sam Simmonds and Henry Slade grabbed two tries apiece as the Chiefs pulled away in the second half to win 42-31.
Wasps’ cause was not helped by the loss of England forwards Brad Shields and Nathan Hughes to injury, the former seeing his debut cut short following a collision with Exeter scrum-half Stu Townsend.
Leicester Tigers began life under Geordan Murphy with a 49-33 victory over Newcastle Falcons, giving their former player a successful start as interim head coach after he replaced Matt O’Connor at the helm.
The Tigers led 40-19 by the interval, Jonny May collecting a brace of tries while George Ford also crossed once, helping the fly-half finish the contest with a personal haul of 29 points.
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Lots of points and tries already this weekend ???
But thanks to @Stu_Farmer for confirming the Premiership record for one round is 503 points and 68 tries in 1998-99 ?
How many more will we get tomorrow? #GallagherPrem pic.twitter.com/y4R9S1xwkc
— Premiership Rugby (@premrugby) September 8, 2018
Comments on RugbyPass
The Crusaders can't buy a win this season. Surely Penney's contract won't be renewed. There's still enough talent in the squad that they oughta be winning more.
1 Go to commentsABs captain for 23 seasons. Decent record. Surely nobody will surpass it. Legend. But alas a typo…
1 Go to commentsJust FYI Rugbypass, I for one am tired of your clickbait titles and thumbnails and will be clicking them no longer. Good day.
1 Go to commentsI think Farrell despite all of the stick he gets in the media is still one of if not the best fly half in the world. He is literally the full package. He can kick one of the best in the world, probably has the best defensive game of a fly half in the world and if he wants to he can run, take contact and find an offload to keep the pace of the attack. I dont know why he isnt spoken more about still being one of the best in the world with the likes of dupont. Farrell is the ultimate captain and team leader and is experienced- he has been in nearly any situation you can think of. I still believe due to these reasons that he is England’s best ever player and is still one of the best players in the world.
48 Go to commentsBlues are dominating up front and that’s been a long time coming. They have won the up front confrontation which is where canes, hilanders and act brumbies are also strong.
3 Go to commentsJust watched brumbies v safas game sadly not a show in he’ll thryr anywhere near quarters or semi contention. Admittedly some issues around new comers bot what stands out for me is coaching management, poor game planning and accuracy.
5 Go to commentsOne tough SOB!
16 Go to commentsI’ve put on 4/5 kilos since the beginning of the season too. Not good kilos. Bad kilos.
3 Go to commentsSurely there’s a ‘no knobheads’ policy ?
2 Go to commentsWallaroos have no chance of beating the Black Ferns unless Canada upsets them in Christchurch tomorrow but I doubt that as well!
1 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Could the victim do a course to reverse the long term CTE damage from the cheapshot?
2 Go to commentsTruely great player. In social media and opinion pieces he was held up and flogged for the results. People wanted someone to crucify, and he was the captain. He was still an immense presence respected by his peers. His battles with Siya Kolisi belong up with with Collins vs Burger in my opinion. Unlucky to be carded in the final, but I don’t agree that his red card was the defining moment. Not when you look at the dominant performances of the Springboks (PSDT in particular.) I think Cane should be remembered for the spirit and physicality that is special to test rugby.
16 Go to commentsSam was the man until he got injured .
16 Go to comments_Crusaders versus Leinster _at the moment might be a rout! But I would like to see the Blues play Toulouse, the Hurricanes front up against Stade Francais, and the Chiefs go against Toulon.
157 Go to commentsLove it when we overlap! Promise it was not forethought.
19 Go to commentsjfc can this guy plz stay out of the news for one week
2 Go to commentsIf stormers aren’t available. Based on form and likely availability at the time of the wales Test, you’d think Masuku would be a no-brainer to start. But starting Jordan also makes sense having Masuku come off the bench to close out the game.
2 Go to commentsGlad Tom Curry not playing needs time to recover such a great player also his brother Ben how well is he playing now .
1 Go to commentsLet’s examine what might be irking the brainless E: Up until 20 years before this coming Julys tests: 16 games: 14 wins for SA; 1 win for Ire; 1 draw From 20 years until July’ tests Ireland V SA: 13 matches Ireland won 8; SA won 4; 1 draw Points scored Ireland 261; SA 189 Ave Winning Margin: Ireland 11 points; SA 4 points (away 3, home 6) Away win record: Ireland 33.33%; SA 25% Neutral matches 1: Ireland win RWC France 2023. Last SA win June 2016 (8 years ago) They boast 3 World cups in that period (they do boast). The above record is not good, probably not much better than theirs against NZ for same period. That’s why the dopey E is starting fights in his head. He will probably ship a yellow when things don’t go their way in the first test.
127 Go to commentsGoode is like a wet fart on The Rugby Pod and should be shoved aside. Jim knows what he is on about and can get on better without Goode’s nasty little cheap shots.
127 Go to comments